State Biopolitics, Illicit Regimes and Security in the Guatemala–Mexico Cross-border Region

Abstract

The article examines the way in which the State was replaced in the municipalities that are drug trafficking routes on the border between Guatemala and Mexico, by an illicit regime that represents a particular type of narco-governmentality, which implements biopolitical practices that have repercussions on the border security. Due to the institutional and financial weakness of the Guatemalan government, it has little presence on its borders. This is taken advantage of by local and transnational organized crime dedicated to cocaine trafficking, which has replaced the State and replicated its hierarchical form of control and power over the territory and its population, in order to generate a situation of narcogovernmentality. In order to maintain power, they use biopolitical practices such as the use of extreme violence against other criminal groups and government security forces, which seek to put the sovereignty of their territory at risk. In addition, they apply a state of siege in their controlled territories, all in order to avoid arrest, ensure their survival, and maintain high levels of profit. As a result, the security of some border municipalities that are routes is very fragile. In this context, improving border security requires to move from a national security approach to one of citizen security.