The Armed Wing of the Informal Economy

The Mexican state’s estrangement from its police force is expressed in public policies that oscillate between moments of feverish reformism and periods marked by discouragement and passivity provoked by reformism’s paltry results. Frustrated reforms have left the police vulnerable, a fact that is manifested in the inordinately high number of police officers who are killed each year. In this chapter, the contemporary history of the armed wings of the informal and illicit economies, and how they have overwhelmed the police, are explored.