Displacement, Deportation, and Devastation: The Evolving Geography of Narco-Violence in Mexico
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8637-1088
Abstract / Resumen / Resumo
Organized crime in Mexico has evolved in confusing and complex ways that have had drastic impacts on mobility, with thousands fleeing their homes and others unable to return. Generally, the changes have followed a pattern of greater fragmentation and the emergence of smaller cells of larger organizations, or even semi-autonomous local crim-inal groups that are far more involved in the socioeconomic and political geography of everyday life than larger criminal organizations. This has serious consequences for dis-placement, as well as creates new dangers for people when they return or are removed to Mexico. This article relies on interviews with displaced Mexican asylum seekers waiting to cross at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as ethnographic work in central and southern Mexico. With a particular focus on Michoacán and Guerrero, which were over-rep-resented in these data, these article provides a detailed view of the factors motivating people to flee and the potential harms and challenges for people returning to Mexico.
Recommended Citation
Slack, Jeremy and Campbell, Howard
(2026)
"Displacement, Deportation, and Devastation: The Evolving Geography of Narco-Violence in Mexico,"
Journal of Latin American Geography
25(1): 132-153.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/lag.2026.a992795
Available at:
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/15/article/992795
