Mexico is in a state of siege. Since President Felipe Calderon declared
a war on drugs in December 2006, more than 38,000 Mexican have been
murdered. During the same period, drug money has infused over $130
billion into Mexico's economy, now the country's single largest source
of income. Corruption and graft infiltrate all levels of government.
Entire towns have become ungovernable, and of every 100 people killed,
Mexican police now only investigate approximately five.
But the market is booming: In 2009, more people in the United States
bought recreational drugs than ever before. In 2009, the United Nations
reported that some $350 billion in drug money had been successfully
laundered into the global banking system the prior year, saving it from
collapse.
How does an extra $350 billion in the global economy affect the murder
rate in Mexico? To get the story and connect the dogs, acclaimed
journalist John Gibler travels across Mexico and slips behind the
frontlines to talk with people who live in towns under assault:
newspaper reporters and crime-beat photographers, funeral parlor
workers, convicted drug traffickers, government officials, cab drivers
and others who find themselves living on the lawless frontiers of the
drug war. Gibler tells hair-raising stories of wild street battles,
kidnappings, narrow escapes, politicians on the take, and the ordinary
people who fight for justice as they seek solutions to the crisis that
is tearing Mexico apart. Fast-paced and urgent, To Die in Mexico is an
extraordinary look inside the raging drug war, and its global
implications.
John Gibler is a writer based in Mexico and California, the author of
Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt (City Lights Books,
2009) and a contributor to País de muertos: Crónicas contra la
impunidad (Random House Mondadori, 2011). He is a correspondent for
KPFA in San Francisco and has published in magazines in the United
States and Mexico, including Left Turn, Z Magazine, Earth Island
Journal, ColorLines, Race, Poverty, the Environment Fifth Estate,
New Politics, In These Times, Yes! Magazine, Contralínea and
Milenio Semanal.
Gibler's front-line reportage coupled with first-rate analysis gives an
uncommonly vivid and nuanced picture of a society riddled and enervated
by corruption, shootouts, and raids, where murder is the 'most popular
method of conflict resolution.' . . . At great personal risk, the author
unearths stories the mainstream media doesn't--or is it too afraid--to
cover, and gives voice to those who have been silenced or whose stories
have been forgotten.--Publishers Weekly, starred review
Gibler argues passionately to undercut this 'case study in failure.' The
drug barons are only getting richer, the murders mount and the police
and military repression expand as 'illegality increases the value of the
commodity.' With legality, both U.S. and Mexican society could address
real issues of substance abuse through education and public-health
initiatives. A visceral, immediate and reasonable argument.--Kirkus
Reviews
Gibler provides a fascinating and detailed insight into the history of
both drug use in the US and the 'war on drugs' unleashed by Ronald
Reagan through the very plausible--but radical--lens of social control.
. . . Throughout this short but powerful book, Gibler accompanies
journalists riding the grim carousel of death on Mexico's streets,
exploring the realities of a profession under siege in states such as
Sinaloa and just how they cover the drugs war.--Gavin O'Toole, The
Latin American Review of Books
