| Author: | Oswaldo Zavala |
| Isbn: | 978-0826504678 |
| Pub Date: | May 15 2022 |
| Publisher: | Vanderbilt University Press |
| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Subjects: | Mexican drug war, Military–industrial complex |
| Translator: | William Savinar |
| Pages: | 193 |
| Title Orig: | Los cárteles no existen. Narcotráfico y cultura en México |
Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture is a 2022 non-fiction book by Oswaldo Zavala. The book rejects the common designation of criminal enterprises involved in the Mexican narcotics trade as "cartels".
The book was written by Oswaldo Zavala, a Mexican journalist and a professor of Latin American Literature and Culture at the City University of New York.[1] [2] It was first published by Malpaso in 2018 as .[3] William Savinar's English translation was published in 2022 by Vanderbilt University Press.[4]
In the book, Zavala claims that enterprises in the Mexican narcotics trade have been incorrectly labeled as cartels in order to cast them as threatening the power of the state. He identifies the origin of this erroneous usage, now ubiquitous in journalism, literature, and academia, with US and Mexican authorities seeking to justify military intervention. He argues that these organizations do not meet the definition of a cartel, as they compete against each other on the market rather than colluding, and are neither strictly organized nor significantly individually powerful.[5]
Osiris Aníbal Gómez of the University of Minnesota described the book as "a defiant investigation", "a rigorous research effort" and "an act of hope."