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

MIN READOct 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)

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. ...