Luminos is the open access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org Making Things Stick Making Things Stick Surveillance Technologies and Mexico’s War on Crime Keith Guzik university of california press University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Oakland, California © 2016 by The Regents of the University of California This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses. Suggested citation: Guzik, Keith. Making Things Stick: Surveillance Technologies and Mexico’s War on Crime. Oakland: University of California Press, 2016. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.12 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Guzik, Keith, author. Title: Making things stick : surveillance technologies and Mexico’s war on crime / Keith Guzik. Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2016] | “2016 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015040252| ISBN 9780520284043 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520959705 (electronic) Subjects: LCSH: Crime prevention—Mexico. | Social control—Government policy—Mexico. | Electronic surveillance—Mexico. | Security systems—Mexico. Classification: LCC HV7434.M6 G89 2016 | DDC 363.2/32—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040252 Manufactured in the United States of America 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r 2002) (Permanence of Paper). Анечке Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi 1. Surveillance Technologies and States of Security 1 2. Taming the Tiger 26 3. Prohesion 56 4. Ni con goma 99 5. Statecraft 141 6. Grasping Surveillance 177 Notes 207 Bibliography 225 Index 247 Illustrations figures 1. Hernando Cortés, 1485–1547, Spanish conquistador / 35 2. Mixity: Of Spain and India, eighteenth century / 39 3. Map of railway expansion during the Porfiriato / 43 4. Workers operating machines in the construction of a roadway, c. 1925 / 46 5. Ciudad Administrativa in Zacatecas, 2013 / 58 6. REPUVE registration site in Zacatecas, 2011 / 59 7. REPUVE RFID tag / 60 8. Initial review of documents during REPUVE registration / 61 9. Photographing vehicle during REPUVE registration / 61 10. Locating VIN number during REPUVE registration / 61 11. Recording VIN number during REPUVE registration / 62 12. Transferring VIN number during REPUVE registration / 62 13. Inputting driver and vehicle data during REPUVE registration / 62 14. Adhering RFID tag during REPUVE registration / 63 15. Verifying RFID tag during REPUVE registration / 63 16. Cosmic Thing, 2002, by Damián Ortega / 69 ix x | Illustrations 17. Arquitectura rústica para carros inseguros, 2003, by Betsabeé Romero / 69 18. Yellow Bug, 2004, by Margarita Cabrera / 70 19. El vochol, 2010, by eight anonymous Huichol artists / 70 20. Conceptual design of the REPUVE database / 87 21. Organizational structure of the REPUVE / 88 22. Governing automobility in Mexico / 93 23. REPUVE registration site in Sonora / 156 24. Video screen displaying REPUVE camera feeds at a REPUVE national assembly in Tlaxcala / 160 25. REPUVE toll lane in Sonora / 169 26. Values at stake in surveillance politics / 201 Acknowledgments This book is made possible only through the generous support of nu- merous organizations and individuals. First among these is the National Science Foundation, which funded my research with a grant (no. 1024469) co-awarded through its Science, Technology, and Society and Law and Social Science programs. No less central were state institutions and employees in Mexico, including administrators and frontline work- ers with the Public Registry of Vehicles in Zacatecas and Sonora and their federal counterparts in the Mexico City offices of the Executive Secretary of the National System for Public Security. Their cooperation was remarkable, and this work would not have been completed without it. I owe my thanks as well to the car companies in Mexico that made their representatives available for interviews. The institutions of higher education where I have worked over the past decade were essential to this work too. The administration and faculty at Bloomfield College supported my research through a study leave in spring 2011 that enabled me to complete the majority of my fieldwork, and they also invited me to present preliminary findings at faculty forums. Beyond being supportive friends, the faculty at the col- lege were an enduring example of striking the proper balance between research, teaching, and service in the academy. The University of Col- orado, Denver, meanwhile, provided both a nurturing work environ- ment that facilitated writing this book and funding to help publish it as an open access book. The CU Denver Department of Sociology gave xi xii | Acknowledgments generous funding as well for a research assistant, who was critical in helping me clear the final hurdles of the research process. And my new colleagues in the department and the College of Liberal Arts and Sci- ences were wonderfully supportive in welcoming me to my new home in the Rocky Mountains. I also want to thank the University of California Press, and Maura Roessner and Jack Young in particular. Maura is an excellent editor to work with. And she made navigating the uncharted terrain of open access publishing an exciting and enjoyable experience. I am indebted as well to Julie Van Pelt, my copyeditor, who did wonderful work in improving the book’s readability. Outside the organizations that supported this work, a number of people deserve acknowledgment. In Mexico, Daiset Ruiz-Sarquis, Armando López Muñoz, and Carmen Cebreros Urzaiz provided critical insight into the endlessly rich history and culture of the country that would have been impossible for me to uncover on my own. But more than this, they offered immeasurable warmth and a good dose of mad- ness that helped carry me through the drudgiest days of field research. I owe thanks as well to Damián Ortega, Betsabeé Romero, Margarita Cabrera, Kurimanzutto, and the Asociación de Amigos del Museo del Arte Popular for allowing me to use images of their artwork in this book. Two research assistants contributed immensely to this project. At Bloomfield College, I was lucky to cross paths with Nora López Matta, who skillfully transcribed interviews and coded survey data while bal- ancing the financial and familial demands of pursuing her American dream. At the University of Colorado, Denver, Heather Worrell gener- ously offered the help of her Spread the Word language services com- pany to help edit transcriptions and create a nimble digital bibliography from the messy mass of sources that I used to put this book together. The ideas that eventually resulted from this research were improved through the kind, critical feedback of colleagues. Special recognition is owed to those who were able to trudge through earlier versions of the manuscript at the request of UC Press—Diane Davis, Katja Franko Aas, and other anonymous reviewers. I am indebted as well to Gary T. Marx and Robert Buffington, who selflessly offered insightful comments on the whole manuscript. I also owe thanks to those who provided me venues for presenting preliminary findings at professional conferences, including Nicholas Rowland and Jan-Hendrick Passoth and their work group on science and technology studies (STS) and the state; and Karen Acknowledgments | xiii Levy and Aaron Smyth and their research network on the intersections of STS and sociolegal studies. A number of others—Jon Gilliom, Mary Mitchell, William Rose, Margaret Hu, Bryce Newell, Diana Mincyte, and Andrzej Nowak—provided helpful comments on conference papers and presentations that form the basis of this book’s chapters. Finally, I want to especially thank Anna Maria Marshall and Evan Stark. Their areas of specialization may lie outside this work, but their continued mentorship well past the time when one should require it is a gift I will always appreciate. chapter 1 Surveillance Technologies and States of Security 1.1 Bunker Mentality Mexico’s Federal Police Intelligence Center (CIPF) was inaugurated on November 24, 2009, in a ceremony attended by President Felipe Calde- rón and Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna. The CIPF, a subterranean structure colloquially known as El Bunker, serves as the a command center for the federal government’s War on Crime. It houses Plataforma México, a network of advanced telecommunication and information technologies receiving data from over six hundred state and municipal offices; 169 federal police stations; the national registries of people, vehicles, criminal records, fingerprints, and ballistics; and video cameras located throughout the country, including those at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, dedicated to the Virgin of Guada- 1 lupe, the patron saint of Mexico. To visualize the data, El Bunker fea- tures four video walls, each measuring 65 by 10 feet, displaying eighty 2 rear-screen projectors arranged in four 2 by 10 configurations. In his remarks, President Calderón claimed that the center would serve as a a. The federal government’s security campaign has carried various monikers—la Guerra contra el Narco (the War against the Narcos), la Lucha contra la Inseguridad (the Fight against Insecurity), la Guerra contra el Crimen (the War against Crime or the War on Crime), among others.