Rethinking the U.S.–Mexico Drug War: Security, Surveillance, and Violence

October 29, 2026 - 3:00 pm

Room 9205
The Graduate Center, CUNY

Mexico’s drug war has lasted for twenty years, with marked effects in Mexico but also in the United States.  Each year, more than 20,000 die, and countless others are injured and terrorized by criminal organizations and US-backed Mexican police and military forces.

Reporters have played an essential role in bringing this undeclared conflict to public attention, often exposing information that state officials and criminals would rather keep quiet.  These efforts have created great pressure on reporters working on this topic, resulting in threats, abuses, and murders. Despite these difficulties, many journalists continue to work.  

In this presentation, the investigative journalist José Olivares will reflect on his work as a reporter focusing on the U.S. role in shaping Mexico’s security and counternarcotics policies — going beyond the familiar story of Mexican “cartels” and violence. He will discuss U.S. agencies’ ties to Mexican officials later accused of corruption, the politics of high-profile drug trials like that of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and the fallout from U.S.–Mexico surveillance and intelligence-sharing along the border.

 

José Olivares is an investigative journalist based in New York. He is currently an immigration reporter with The Guardian. His work, focusing on immigration enforcement, US involvement in Latin America, and human rights, has exposed abuse, wrongdoing and secretive operations by US government agencies and private companies. Recently, he revealed the details of a clandestine DEA operation in Colombia with disastrous consequences and further details of US government surveillance operations in northern Mexico. José has covered federal drug war prosecutions, including those of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, Genaro García-Luna, Rubén “El Menchito” Oseguera, and others.

Oswaldo Zavala is Professor of contemporary Latin American literature and culture at the College of Staten Island and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). His most recent books are Drug Cartels Do Not Exist. Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture, and La guerra en las palabras. Una historia intelectual del “narco” (1975-2020).

 

 

Moderator: Oswaldo Zavala, College of Staten Island / The Graduate Center, CUNY

TO REGISTER send email to bildner@gc.cuny.edu