Copyright by Santiago Ivan Guerra 2011 The Dissertation Committee for Santiago Ivan Guerra Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: From Vaqueros to Mafiosos: A Community History of Drug Trafficking in Rural South Texas Committee: Martha Menchaca, Supervisor John Hartigan Jose E. Limon Doug Foley Anne Martinez From Vaqueros to Mafiosos: A Community History of Drug Trafficking in Rural South Texas by Santiago Ivan Guerra, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2011 Dedication In Memory of: Mi Abuela – Andrea Arredondo Garza Mi Padre – Crisanto Guerra III “La Tana” Mi Tio – Xavier “El Armadillo” Garza Acknowledgements Completing this dissertation and the accompanying Ph.D. has been a difficult, eventful and rewarding journey. El viaje no lo hice solo. I have many people to thank for the emotional, spiritual and professional support they provided throughout the many years leading up to this. Para mi familia immediate and extended – including los que nos dejaron, los que siguen con nosotros y los que quedan por llegar – los quiero a todos mas de lo que se imaginan. My families’ roots Los Guerra, Los Garza, Los Lopez, Los Arredondo, Los Garcia, Los Escobar, Los Rosales are all in Starr County. This dissertation is for them and toda la gente de Starr County y sus alrededores. My greatest thanks go to my mother and my Tia Lorina who both invested in this project by helping me find many of the people I interviewed. Para mi manito Roy and my “kids” (the younger primos and primas) I hope that you all make your own dreams come true – whatever they may be. Cuenten conmigo. Para mi madre: no hay palabras para mostrarle a usted lo tanto que la quiero, que la agradezo y admiro. Without you, mom I could have never accomplished any of this. My accomplishments are as much yours as they are mine. To my camaradas from back home - you all know about this world as much as I do - Evers, Cesar, Raudel, Mario, Sara, Karina, Moreno, Eric and Mando. Thank you all for keeping me grounded, for being my home away from home, for reminding me of back in the day. Thanks for all the great times in Austin, back home, and wherever we’ve been and have yet to go. Thank you also to mis hermanos musicales the members of Mitote: Alex Chavez, Estevan Azcona, Mincho Jacob, Alexandro Hernandez, Dave Perales and Carlos Salazar. v When I thought I would never pick up an instrument again, son jarocho became a welcome gift to share with one another and our communities. Thanks for letting me keep time. Thank you to all my colleagues and the staff at the Center for Mexican American Studies and the Department of Anthropology. You have all been there as great friends, providing stimulating conversation, insightful guidance and helpful critiques. Thank you especially to the good friends from my Anthropology cohort who I suffered the rigors of Social Core alongside – Raja Swamy, Ken MacCliesh, Damien Snyder and Alex Chavez – and to my many other good friends in the Department of Anthropology and CMAS - Teresa Velasquez, Veronica Martinez-Matsuda, Cristina Salinas, Crystal Kurzen, Olga Herrera, Brenda Sendejo, Pablo Gonzalez, Alberto Varon, Estevan Azcona, Jennifer Najera, Maria Cruz, David Garcia, Elvira Prieto, Lydia French, Irene Garza, Amanda Gray, Cristina Garcia, Hortencia Jimenez, Patricia Lopez, Jackie Cuevas, Alberto Gonzalez, Julia Vargas, Sonia Montoya, Paul del Bosque and Jacob Castaneda. I extend my sincerest gratitude to all of the members of my dissertation committee: Martha Menchaca, Jose Limon, John Hartigan, Doug Foley, and Anne Martinez. You all helped to make the dissertation experience fun, enlightening, productive, and most importantly for me less fearful. You have all taught me to be a better scholar. Thank you especially to my adviser Dr. Menchaca for her rigorous critiques and edits of various incarnations of this dissertation. She has served as an exemplary model for me, and she has magnificently guided me through this crazy maze of academia - thank you for everything these past seven years. My most heartfelt thanks and love goes out to my partner Nancy Rios. We met in of all places the CMAS TA office, and who would have thought that only a few yeas later we would end up married. Thank you for reminding me to laugh and have fun, and for vi showing me that life is much sweeter when you have someone to share it with. I never thought that I could love someone this much until I met you. You truly are an amazing person, a strong, beautiful and wonderful woman. Thank you for being you. Espero que la vida te traiga toda la felicidad que te mereces. Yo haria todo por ti. Muchas gracias igual a toda la familia Rios-Ramos por aceptarme como parte de sus familias. Finally this dissertation was generously funded through the financial support of the National Science Foundation, the Center for Mexican American Studies and the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. vii From Vaquero to Mafiosos: A Community History of Drug Trafficking in Rural South Texas Publication No._____________ Santiago Ivan Guerra, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 Supervisor: Martha Menchaca My dissertation, From Vaqueros to Mafiosos: A Community History of Drug Trafficking in Rural South Texas is an ethnographic study of the impact of the drug trade in South Texas, with a specific focus on Starr County. This dissertation examines drug trafficking along the U.S-Mexico Border at two levels of analysis. First, through historical ethnography, I provide a cultural history of South Texas, as well as a specific history of drug trafficking in Starr County. In doing so, I highlight the different trafficking practices that emerge throughout South Texas’ history, and I document the social changes that develop in Starr County as a result of these illicit practices. The second half of my dissertation, however, is devoted to a contemporary analysis of the impact of the drug trade on the border region by analyzing important social practices in Starr County relating to drug abuse, policing and the criminal justice system, youth socialization and family life. Through ethnography I present the devastating effects of the viii drug trade and border policing on this Mexican American border community in rural South Texas. ix Table of Contents List of Illustrations................................................................................................. xi INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 La Historia: The Birth of the Vaquero and La Cultura Fronteriza .......11 El Rancho: A Brief History from Spain to Mexico .......................................11 El Vaquero: Cultural Production in Northern New Spain…………………15 Las Villa del Norte: Early Colonial History of the Lower South Texas Border…………………………………………………………………………………… 19 El Rancho in Nuevo Santander: Development of the Lower South Texas Border…………………………………………………………………………………….23 El Mundo Tejano: Life on the Ranches of the South Texas Border………26 La Guerra: The Mexican American war and the Militarization of the Border……………………………………………………………………………………..28 Mexico­Americanos: The Incorporation of South Texas into the U.S……31 El Rancho no muere: The Coninuation of Ranching in La Estrella……….34 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………..38 Chapter 2 Los primeros contrabandistas: A History of Smuggling and Policing in the South Texas-Mexico Borderlands.......................................................41 Rustlers and Rinches: Anglo-Mexican Conflict and Early Smuggling ........42 Contrabandistas: Smuggling Practices in the New Borderlands…………..51 Revolutions and Rinches: Criminalizing and Policing Mexicanos…………53 Los primeros narcos: Early Drug Smuggling and the Mexican Revolution………………………………………………………………………………..60 Los tequileros: Liquor Smuggling and the Prohibition Era………………….63 El Contrabando Noble: Smuggling Goods, Subverting Borders……………67 Inmigrantes y Coyotaje: Immigration, Human Smuggling and Border Policing……………………………………………………………………………………69 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….71 x Chapter 3 De trabajadores a mafiosos: Drug Trafficking in the South Texas-Mexico Borderlands...................................................................................................73 Contrabandistas: Drug Smuggling in the Mid-Twentieth Century..............73 Los trabajos: Political Economy in the Mid-Twentieth Century…………..76 From Farmworkers to Mafiosos: Marijuana Smuggling in the 1960s and 1970s…………………………………………………………………83 La Caspa del Diablo: Cocaine Trafficking in the 1980s………………….90 Mafiosos de la Estrellita: Drug Trafficking Proliferation in the 1990s……98 Se Pone Loco el Pedo: September 11th and the Transformation of Drug Trafficking ………………………………………………………….102 Conclusion………………………………………………………………..107 Chapter 4 La Chota y La Ley: Policing and Prosecuting in the South Texas-Mexico Borderlands.................................................................................................109 La frontera: Policing in the Borderlands....................................................110 La Ley: The Prosecutor's Perspective on Crime in Starr County…………115 Checandolos: Probation Officers and Low-Intensity Policing…………….120 Los chuecos: Law Enforcement Corruption……………………………….124 El Armadillo: Law Enforcement
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