Tag: War on Drugs

By Christiane Coste, human rights graduate student at Columbia University _____________________________________________________________________________ Despite the big victory in Mexico’s fight against organized crime, the arrest of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, considered the world’s most wanted drug lord, Mexico continues to face many challenges.  For one, it runs the risk of clouding pressing national security problems as a result of a triumphalist attitude on the part of the government and a media that is solely focused on the capture of this powerful kingpin. Therefore, this may be an opportune moment to look at some of the problems Mexico must still address as a result of the war against drugs, in particular, the emergence of vigilante groups in Michoacán and the potential human rights violations that can result from these armed groups. As the state has proven incapable of guaranteeing citizens’ security, particularly in the Tierra Caliente region, vigilante units  (self-defense groups as they call themselves) have emerged as a citizen-led effort to confront the particularly violent...