Peer Review Papers by Carlos A. Pérez Ricart
Foro Internacional , 2022
El artículo trata el tema de la (muy activa) política exterior de México en torno a la regulación... more El artículo trata el tema de la (muy activa) política exterior de México en torno a la regulación de las armas de fuego y la falta de cumplimiento interno de varios de los tratados que la cancillería impulsa en foros multilaterales alrededor de este tema. Como hipótesis principal, se propone que la brecha entre la política exterior activa y la falta de medidas a nivel interno se explica por la resistencia de actores internos y la ausencia de una política de Estado articulada y coherente en torno a las armas a nivel federal. Si bien la cancillería ha adoptado una política activista y protagónica sobre el tema, ésta se inscribe más bien en la tradición diplomática que favorece el desarme, la no proliferación y la solución pacífica de los conflictos. Se argumenta que las recientes acciones diplomáticas que han respondido al tráfico ilícito de armas han sido iniciativas aisladas de la cancillería. Además de contribuir a la literatura sobre la interacción entre la política exterior y la política interna en torno a las armas de fuego (tema que ha recibido atención insuficiente), el propósito de este texto es presentar un análisis integral de la política del Estado mexicano sobre este tema, incluyendo sus contradicciones y áreas de oportunidad.
Crime and Justice , 2022
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic co... more This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Este artículo examina la relación entre violencia y disponibilidad de armas cortas y ligeras entr... more Este artículo examina la relación entre violencia y disponibilidad de armas cortas y ligeras entre civiles en América Latina. Se argumenta que la relación causal entre mayor disponibilidad de armas y mayores índices de violencia no se sostiene para todo el continente y bajo cualquier circunstancia. Sin embargo, en situaciones específicas la mayor circulación de armas sí cataliza situaciones violentas. Al analizar y sintetizar las aportaciones académicas sobre este tema, se contribuye a los estudios sobre la violencia, criminalidad y seguridad en la región. Se hace un llamado a mayor investigación empírica y comparada que dilucide las interrogantes que aún quedan por resolver en la compleja relación entre disponibilidad de armas entre civiles y violencia en América Latina.
As the volume of firearms (legal and illegal) in Mexico grows, gun violence has become a major pu... more As the volume of firearms (legal and illegal) in Mexico grows, gun violence has become a major public health challenge. While studies have focused on gun-related homicides and robberies, there is a dearth of research addressing non-fatal gunshot injuries. At the same time, official government sources report limited information and undercount these injuries. Objective The objective of this article is threefold. First, to provide data of non-fatal gunshot injuries sustained during crimes in Mexico; second, to estimate their initial individual healthcare costs; finally, to compare those costs to those resulting from other forms of injuries. This article contributes to discussions on gun violence in Mexico and its impact on public health. Methods We analysed Mexico's National Crime Victimization Survey from 2014 to 2020. Findings We estimated that there were approximately 150 415 non-fatal gunshot injuries during crimes perpetrated from 2013 to 2019. We found that most non-fatal criminal gunshot injuries occur during a robbery and that victims tend to be men and young people between 18 and 35 years of age. Most of these injuries occur in urban areas and public spaces. While non-fatal gun-related injuries are not as common during crimes as other non-fatal injuries, their initial individual healthcare expenses are significantly higher. Crimes involving gun-related injuries reported an average expense of 16 643 pesos and crimes involving other forms of injuries reported an average of 1281 pesos. This discrepancy highlights the health burden associated with gun violence.
Resumen: Este artículo analiza el proceso de promulgación y suspensión en México del Reglamento d... more Resumen: Este artículo analiza el proceso de promulgación y suspensión en México del Reglamento de Toxicomanías de 1940, por el que se permitía, entre otras cosas, la puesta en marcha de un programa de sustitución de adicciones radical para su época. Aunque el Reglamento fue firmado por el presidente Lázaro Cárdenas
en enero, en junio de 1940 fue suspendido de forma indefinida debido a
presiones de diferentes instituciones del gobierno de Estados Unidos (ee.uu.).
El artículo tiene dos objetivos. Por un lado, examinar el papel que desempeñaron diferentes actores e instituciones del gobierno de ee.uu. en la suspensión del referido Reglamento. Por otro, analizar la reacción tanto de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (sre) como del Departamento de Salubridad Pública (dsp) en defensa del mismo.
Abrevando de fuentes primarias reunidas en México y en ee.uu., se reconstruyen los pormenores de la relación transgubernamental entre funcionarios mexicanos y estadounidenses entre abril de 1938 y julio de 1940, mes en el que se suspende el Reglamento.
ste artículo rastrea la emergencia, ascenso y declive del aparato policial encargado del control ... more ste artículo rastrea la emergencia, ascenso y declive del aparato policial encargado del control de drogas dentro del Departamento de Salubridad Pública (DSP, después Secretaría de Salubridad y Asistencia, SSA) entre 1917 y principios de la década de 1960. El artículo examina los orígenes y cambios organizacionales del aparato policial de Narcóticos, las prácticas de sus agentes en el ejercicio de la regulación de las leyes de la época y las razones de su lenta –pero progresiva– pérdida de importancia hacia inicios de la década de los años cuarenta en favor de la Policía Judicial anclada en la Procuraduría General de la República, el Ejército, así como de otras policías locales. Así, este artículo presenta –a partir de un estudio de caso– el cambio de paradigma con que el Estado mexicano modificó gradualmente su interpretación del problema de las drogas, mismo que pasa de estar asociado a temas relativos a la salud pública a ser codificado en términos de seguridad.
La principal base documental del artículo es el Archivo Histórico de la Secretaría de Salud (AHSSA), sitio en el que se conservan los informes de labores de la Policía de Narcóticos del DSP, así como los registros de su personal.
Data from Mexico’s National Crime Victimization Surveys (Encuesta Nacional de Victimización y Per... more Data from Mexico’s National Crime Victimization Surveys (Encuesta Nacional de Victimización y Percepción sobre Seguridad Pública, ENVIPE) indicate that 1.89 million Mexican households acquired a gun from 2012 to 2018. The objective of this article is to analyse factors associated with gun acquisition in Mexico. We analysed data from the 2013 through 2019 ENVIPE surveys and ran a binary logistic regression. Our results show that gun acquisition in Mexico is associated with the demographics of the head of the household, characteristics of the household, perception of insecurity, illegal activities around a household, victimization and mistrust in security agencies. This study adds to efforts of understanding gun acquisition worldwide while also contributing to the complex research of guns and violence in Latin America, specifically in Mexico.
Este artículo tiene dos objetivos. Por un lado, examinar la historia de los usos terapéuticos y m... more Este artículo tiene dos objetivos. Por un lado, examinar la historia de los usos terapéuticos y medicinales del cannabis en México; por el otro, exponer el proceso histórico que ha dado lugar a una compleja discusión sobre los usos médicos del cannabis en el México contemporáneo. La primera parte del artículo documenta la manera cómo la planta cannabis y sus derivados fueron incorporados en la farmacéutica mexicana durante el siglo XIX y principios del XX. La segunda parte expone el proceso tras el cual la planta cannabis dejó de ser considerada por los discursos oficiales un medicamento, para convertirse en una droga prohibida en el siglo XX. A la luz de esos antecedentes, la tercera sección expone de manera puntual el debate legislativo que actualmente busca reivindicar los usos medicinales del cannabis en México. Para la elaboración de este artículo se sistematizaron fuentes documentales de naturaleza diversa, las cuales fueron abordadas desde perspectivas ancladas tanto en la historia cultural e institucional, como en el debate actual de política global de drogas.
This article offers a systematic and comprehensive account of the activities and policies of the ... more This article offers a systematic and comprehensive account of the activities and policies of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Mex-ico between 1973, the year in which the agency was founded, and 1980, the year when most of the documents related to the DEA's presence in Mexico were declassified. The essay draws on primary sources found in various archives in Mexico and the United States, including many recently declassified cables, letters, intelligence reports, and internal memorandums produced by DEA officials. The first research objective of this essay is to examine the extent of the DEA's operational leeway in Mexico. This essay's working hypothesis is that the DEA's operations in the country were heavily limited by both US foreign policy and Mexican internal political dynamics. On the one hand, the DEA had to struggle with a wide network of US actors and organizations involved in drug policy-including the State Department, the CIA, the Customs Service, and the White House-on the other hand, Mexican concerns about national sovereignty restricted the operating margin of the DEA. These two constraints gave rise to a fragmented US drug policy in which no single actor was ever able to impose itself fully, let alone develop an articulate drug policy for Mexico.
The paper examines the role played by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) – a law enforcement b... more The paper examines the role played by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) – a law enforcement body within the U.S. Department of the Treasury – in the design and execution of drug policy in Mexico between 1940 and 1968. Drawing on primary sources from half a dozen collections of documents in Mexico and the United States, the article aims to answer two key questions: “What mechanisms did the FBN use to intervene in Mexican drug policy during the period?” and “What was its true impact and effectiveness?” This case study aims to contribute to research on drug policy in Mexico and study the influence
exercised by various U.S. actors and organizations in this regard.
Abstract: This paper examines how Germany and the United States have altered their laws and polic... more Abstract: This paper examines how Germany and the United States have altered their laws and policies for the control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) exports to Mexico, a country currently experiencing a severe human rights crisis. Based on interviews carried out in Germany and the United States, and official reports and secondary materials, the paper identifies that while Germany has withdrawn SALW exports to Mexico, us companies continue to export them with practically no restrictions. The text offers contributions to two academic debates: the study of the participation of non-state actors in the decision-making process on arms export policies, and the examination of how
international norms affect the behavior and practices of nation states, a key issue in the constructivist agenda of international relations.
In bibliography on civic-military relations and security in Mexico there is usually consensus aro... more In bibliography on civic-military relations and security in Mexico there is usually consensus around the idea that in the last twenty years there has been a certain acceleration of militarization of public security in Mexico. Without meditating too much, and presumably inadvertently and accidentally, this bibliographic body has assumed the process of militarization of public security as a genuinely contemporary event. In order to show that the militarization of public security is not an unprecedented phenomenon, this article reviews, from archival documentation and secondary bibliography, the way in which public security was organized in Mexico since the viceregal period to the contemporary. The results of this historical review leave little room for doubt: military logic has historically permeated the way in which security is provided in Mexico. That evidence compels us to ask ourselves about the way in which this historical legacy constrains and
limits the possibilities of a security and democracy
agenda in contemporary Mexico.
Key words: Mexico, Militarization, Public security
In this article, I examine the institutional responses that arose in Latin America around the iss... more In this article, I examine the institutional responses that arose in Latin America around the issue of drug trafficking during the 1970s, in particular the emergence of anti-narcotics policing in that period. The central focus is on the manner in which the anti-narcotics agencies of the United States—especially the Drug Enforcement Administration—contributed to the structuring of the field of anti-narcotics policing in Latin America. Staring from a reexamination of various documentary and archival collections, I analyze the origins of the anti-narcotics police institutions in Latin America, along with the diffusion of the practices of institutional development undertaken by the DEA, such as the creation of police networks in the region.
Resumen: Se examinan, aquí, las respuestas institucionales que surgieron en América Latina sobre ... more Resumen: Se examinan, aquí, las respuestas institucionales que surgieron en América Latina sobre el tráfico de drogas en la década de los setenta. Se explo-ra, en particular, la emergencia del campo policial antinarcóticos de entonces. Como argumento central, se apunta que las agencias antidrogas de los Estados Unidos —en especial, la Drug Enforcement Administration (dea)— coadyuvaron a la estructuración del campo policial antinarcóticos en América Latina. A partir de una revisión de distintos fondos documentales, se analizan los oríge-nes de las instituciones policiacas antidrogas en América Latina, la difusión de las prácticas de desarrollo institucional que emprendió la dea y la creación de redes policiacas en la región. Palabras clave: Drug Enforcement Administration (dea), campo organiza-cional, militarización, seguridad, política antinarcóticos, policía. Abstract: In this paper we examine the institutional responses that emerged in Latin America to drug trafficking in the 1970s. It explores, in particular, the emergence of the field of counternarcotics policing at the time. As a central argument, it asserts that us drug agencies—especially the Drug Enforcement Administration (dea)—helped to structure the field of counternarcotics policing in Latin America. Based on a review of a range of documentary resources, we analyze the origins of counternarcotics institutions in Latin America, the dissemination of institutional development practices undertaken by the dea, and the creation of police networks in the region.
In dem Beitrag werden die Verhandlungen zum Abschluss eines Sicherheitsabkommens zwischen Mexiko ... more In dem Beitrag werden die Verhandlungen zum Abschluss eines Sicherheitsabkommens zwischen Mexiko und Deutschland (2010 analysiert. Es wird die These vertreten, dass keine der Regierungen das offizielle Ziel verfolgte, eine "Verbes serung der Kooperationsmechanismen" gegen die "Transnationalisierung des organisierten Verbrechens" zu erreichen. Vielmehr dienten diese Ziele der Legitimation bürokratischer und wirtschaftlicher Interessen. Für die mexikanische Seite gilt es, angesichts der Vorwürfe von Menschenrechtsverletzungen ihre Sicherheitspolitik zu legitimieren; für die deutsche Seite, einen institutionellen Rahmen zu schaffen, um die größtmögliche Menge an Sicherheitsequipment und -technologie an Mexiko zu verkaufen. Schlüsselwörter: Sicherheit, Polizeiausbildung, Wissenstransfer, Policing, Regierungsbeziehungen, Sicherheitsabkommen This article analyses the negotiations to reach a security agreement between Mexico and Germany (2010-2015). The hypothesis is that the objective of neither of the two governments was "the improvement in the collaboration mechanisms" in the face of the "transnationalisation of organised crime". Instead, these objectives were put forward to legitimise bureaucratic and commercial interests. For the Mexican part the interest of legitimising its security policies while facing accusations of human rights violations; for the German part the interest of creating an institutional framework so broad as to allow the largest possible quantity of security materials and technologies to be exported from Germany to Mexico.
Books by Carlos A. Pérez Ricart
This book asks why crime and violence persist in Latin America at extreme levels and why the stat... more This book asks why crime and violence persist in Latin America at extreme levels and why the states have not been able to more effectively solve this problem that dominates the lives of many millions of Latin Americans.
Informed by diverse disciplinary backgrounds, the book brings together a team of regional experts to discuss research-based explanations on some of Latin America’s most pressing criminal and violent issues distressing the rule of law. First, it examines old and new forms of observing crime upon perpetrators and victimized communities. Second, it explores the geographies of urban and rural violence and the entangled politics following organized criminality. Third, it questions how the transfer of policy knowledge and expertise reshapes local security governance, and, more importantly, critically examines the problems in implementing foreign models and paradigms in the Latin American context. Finally, it exposes the everchanging scenario of policy-making and prosecuting crime and homicide.
Crime, Violence, and Justice in Latin America provides new themes and novel trends on what crime and violence mean in the eyes of observers, perpetrators, policymakers, governmental officials, and victims. It is an important acquisition for policy makers and academics alike.
This edited book addresses the issues of gun trafficking and gun violence across different region... more This edited book addresses the issues of gun trafficking and gun violence across different regions of the world, including the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. It seeks to identify global key trends on gun trafficking and related violence and discuss different enforcement measures. Each chapter is written by teams of distinguished academics and/or experienced practitioners to include practitioner insights and policy proposals on issues related to gun violence and gun trafficking. Chapters offer an overview of violence and recent gun control debates in the regions, enumerate challenges, provide lessons learnt, and recommend policy solutions. An overview of the global small arms trade is provided at the beginning alongside a comparative analysis of common challenges and significant differences across the regions. This book speaks to those in Criminology, International Relations, Public Policy, International Security, Public health and Law, and to civil society organizations, think tanks, research centers, policy analysts and policy makers involved in gun control debates.
Book sections by Carlos A. Pérez Ricart
Latin America has been labeled as one of the most violent regions on Earth. With only 8% of the p... more Latin America has been labeled as one of the most violent regions on Earth. With only 8% of the planet’s population, the region is the site of 33% of the world’s homicides. These homicides are mostly concentrated in four countries: Brazil, Colombia, México, and Venezuela. The main objective of the chapter is to present a general overview of the problem of gun trafficking in Latin America and its relation to violence. More concretely, it aims to examine the relationship between violence and arms availability among civilians in Latin America. The article is divided into three main parts. The first section examines the background to the security challenge in the region. The second presents the most important security challenges and examines key lessons learnt from these challenges. The final section offers three specific policy recommendations to address gun trafficking and violence in Latin America. Overall, the chapter contributes to the research fields of violence, criminality, and security in the region and calls for further comparative and empirical research that might address the main questions around the complex relationship between violence and small arms in Latin America.
Uploads
Peer Review Papers by Carlos A. Pérez Ricart
en enero, en junio de 1940 fue suspendido de forma indefinida debido a
presiones de diferentes instituciones del gobierno de Estados Unidos (ee.uu.).
El artículo tiene dos objetivos. Por un lado, examinar el papel que desempeñaron diferentes actores e instituciones del gobierno de ee.uu. en la suspensión del referido Reglamento. Por otro, analizar la reacción tanto de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (sre) como del Departamento de Salubridad Pública (dsp) en defensa del mismo.
Abrevando de fuentes primarias reunidas en México y en ee.uu., se reconstruyen los pormenores de la relación transgubernamental entre funcionarios mexicanos y estadounidenses entre abril de 1938 y julio de 1940, mes en el que se suspende el Reglamento.
La principal base documental del artículo es el Archivo Histórico de la Secretaría de Salud (AHSSA), sitio en el que se conservan los informes de labores de la Policía de Narcóticos del DSP, así como los registros de su personal.
exercised by various U.S. actors and organizations in this regard.
international norms affect the behavior and practices of nation states, a key issue in the constructivist agenda of international relations.
limits the possibilities of a security and democracy
agenda in contemporary Mexico.
Key words: Mexico, Militarization, Public security
Books by Carlos A. Pérez Ricart
Informed by diverse disciplinary backgrounds, the book brings together a team of regional experts to discuss research-based explanations on some of Latin America’s most pressing criminal and violent issues distressing the rule of law. First, it examines old and new forms of observing crime upon perpetrators and victimized communities. Second, it explores the geographies of urban and rural violence and the entangled politics following organized criminality. Third, it questions how the transfer of policy knowledge and expertise reshapes local security governance, and, more importantly, critically examines the problems in implementing foreign models and paradigms in the Latin American context. Finally, it exposes the everchanging scenario of policy-making and prosecuting crime and homicide.
Crime, Violence, and Justice in Latin America provides new themes and novel trends on what crime and violence mean in the eyes of observers, perpetrators, policymakers, governmental officials, and victims. It is an important acquisition for policy makers and academics alike.
Book sections by Carlos A. Pérez Ricart