ep. 28 - drug cartels still do not exist (with prof. oswaldo zavala)
in march, i had the opportunity to interview CUNY professor Oswaldo Zavala about this moment in Latin American history, particularly as it relates to the "war on drugs." we discussed his seminal book "Drug Cartels Do Not Exist," the staggering amount of unsubstantiated claims that get widely publicized about larger-than-life narcotraficantes, and how a far-right Trump regime has re-energized the cartel narrative as (once again) an easy cover for brutal US imperialism south of the border. this interview was part of my research for an upcoming video, tentatively titled "How coca became cocaine," examining how colonialism transformed a sacred herb with significant nutritional properties into a worldwide cultural phenomenon legitimizing fear and violence in Latin America.
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Ahhh! So excited to watch this later. I actually heard about is book from weirdly enough May Leitz when she did an explanation of shock content and she referenced his book to explain why certain drug cartel videos might’ve been perpetrated by SOA trained or have a direct lineage to the SOA (and might even have been done in former SOA associated locations). Definitely changed my perspective on my mother country.