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University of Bath PHD The process of Transnationalization of Drug Trafficking Organisations: The case of the Mexican Cartels Islas, Diorella Award date: 2020 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 11. Oct. 2021 The process of Transnationalization of Drug Trafficking Organisations: The case of the Mexican Cartels Laura Diorella Islas Limiñana A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies September, 2019 Supervisors: Dr Felia Allum Dr Juan Pablo Ferrero COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with the author and copyright of any previously published materials included may rest with third parties. A copy of this thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it understands that they must not copy it or use material from it except as licenced, permitted by law or with the consent of the author or other copyright owners, as applicable. 1 Declaration of any previous suBmission of the work The material presented here for examination for the award of a higher degree by research has not been incorporated into a submission for another degree. Candidate’s signature Declaration of authorship I am the author of this thesis, and the work described therein was carried out by myself personally, with the exception of Table 4 “Cocaine consumption in the US” where 25% of the work was carried out by Karina Esmail who helped me to update the Table Candidate’s signature 2 Abstract This thesis seeks to develop a better understanding of the transnational behaviour of drug trafficking organisations (DTOs) by documenting the role that Mexican DTOs had in the cocaine trafficking to Europe after 2008. This was the year when the Italian authorities announced their discoveries that there were business interaction between the Mexican DTOs and the Italian mafia groups. At the same time the Italian authorities were announcing their findings, my literature review showed a lack of analysis and documentation regarding the transnationaliZation of Mexican DTOs to Europe. While most of the literature focuses on the explanation of the cartels inside Mexico, my research question focused on clarifying whether or not the Mexican DTOs are expanding their cocaine trafficking activities to Europe. At this point I considered the reports of the Italian authorities that affirm that the Mexican DTOs are relevant drug trafficking intermediaries in the cocaine trafficking routes to Europe. To answer my research question, and to systematically describe the evolution of DTOs, a qualitative methods approach was deployed (Mohajan, 2018) with a case study design adapted from Yin (2003). My analysis was carried out through the use of multiple triangulation techniques that helped me to collect and study different types of data to understand the subject. I collected empirical information through 28 interviews with security personnel with experience in countering Mexican DTOs or in the cocaine routes to Europe. The information gathered from the security personnel, complemented by official reports and open source information, was useful to answer my research question and test my hypothesis. The analysis showed that despite Italian authorities’ claims and perceptions, the power of the Mexican cartels is very limited when talking about their presence and links in Europe, and resulted in four key findings. Firstly, that the perception of the Mexican DTOs as having trans-Atlantic powers is erroneous, because the evidence showed that there is no transatlantic expansion. Secondly, the analysis uncovered the internal, national and international variables that were observed to alter the evolution and behaviour of the Mexican DTOs. At the internal level, the variables included the loss of leadership and the grievances between groups. At the national level the identified variables were the democratic transitions, corruption and impunity networks. And at the international level the variables were the international drug demand, the changes in the international illicit world, the situation of governance and corruption in foreign countries and the geography of the region where the illicit business are taking place. The third finding was that the transatlantic cocaine trafficking routes are not controlled by an specific actor, but they are horiZontal structures that are highly adaptative. The final key finding refers to a methodological observation which I describe as the “paradox of referencing”; when many sources reference something that was true in the past –like the links between Mexican DTOs and Italian mafia discovered in 2008– they help to perpetuate the present perception of a past phenomenon. 3 Dedication I am especially thankful, to all members of the security community who work every day of the year, regardless of the holidays, to make our countries a safer place. I am grateful for my colleagues and my superiors, their dedication inspired me every step of the way. My special appreciation to all the security practitioners who were willing to share their experiences during the interviews. My enormous gratitude and acknowledgment to all the security practitioners in the world who left us while they were fighting for the rule of law, and whose interesting stories will never be known. This thesis is my way to honour you all. 4 Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) for funding this project during the last 4 years. Without CONACYT’s invaluable help I would had never been able to fulfil this dream. Thanks to my supervisors, Dr Felia Allum, and Dr. Juan Ferrero, for encouraging me out of my comfort Zone, and for all the hours they dedicated to this project. I am grateful to Dr Allum for inviting me to the Standing Group on Organised Crime and for believing in me since the very beginning. I would also like to thank to Thomas Peterman for not allowing me to give up, and to Karina Esmail and Christian Schreiber for helping me with in the proofreading of this thesis. I am grateful to my parents, for not pushing their little girl to be a “good woman”. I will be eternally thankful that they encouraged me to become whomever I wanted to be in life, regardless of our circumstances. I am also grateful to Yuyo, who was always cheering for me, and who always remembered where I was and what was I up to. In the same tenor, I would like to acknowledge to Dr. Maria Luisa ParragueZ and Dr. Pablo Telman, for being my example of academic excellence, for mentoring me during my youth, and for inspiring me to pursue a PhD. I also want to express my gratitude to Luis Acosta, for believing in me and for being the best example of professional excellence. Thanks to Sascha Bruchmann for those two years of amaZingly beautiful memories. Thanks to my friends, the ones who did not run away when things got ugly; thank you for giving me reasons to keep smiling. Last but not least, I am very grateful to the Marshall Center community for being always friendly and welcoming. My most sincere appreciation to Joe Vann, John Fencsak, Chris Kreiler, and Dr Graeme Herd, for having the patience and the time of sharing their knowledge with me. 5 TaBle of Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. 9 List of TaBles ............................................................................................................................. 10 Glossary of terms ...................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 12 Relevance of this research ................................................................................................. 13 Research Aims .................................................................................................................... 14 Structure of this study ........................................................................................................ 14 Research questions ............................................................................................................