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The Case for a Counterinsurgency Approach to Mexico's Cartel Wars

Scott Stewart

VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor

Oct 1, 2019 | 10:00 GMT

Favio Gomez, brother of Servando Gomez, also known as "La Tuta," is transported in Mexico City on Feb. 27, 2015, after his capture. Counterinsurgency tactics, rather than counterterrorism measures, might bring Mexico more success in battling its cartels.

(MANUEL VELASQUEZ/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Highlights

Mexico has not designated its cartels as terrorist organizations, but it uses many counterterrorism tools and tactics to fight them.
Such an approach has weakened many cartels, causing several to implode, but it has done little to enhance the government's legitimacy or address the issues that foster the rise of such groups.
Because cartels have grown strong due to corruption, incompetent governance, economic malaise, impunity and the absence of the rule of law, Mexico might require a holistic counterinsurgency approach that goes beyond military means to remedy the underlying issues that facilitate such criminality.

Clearly, the Mexican government can't capture or kill its way out of its cartel problem. Instead, the road to solving the country's profound problems might lie along a different, more holistic, tack: a counterinsurgency model. Thinking of the cartels as criminal insurgents provides a valid blueprint for understanding the problem -- as well as a road map for addressing it. ...

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