The Diversification of Violence: Mining, Export-Agriculture, and the War on Drugs in Mexico

Joel Herrera and Cesar B. Martinez-Alvarez

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Abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that criminal organizations across the Global South actively exploit natural resources, with important development and political consequences for the communities where they operate. In this article, we investigate whether the incursion of some criminal groups into the mining and export-agricultural sector has impacted criminal violence in Mexico. We argue that competition and state repression incentivize criminal organizations to build up their profits and violence-making capabilities, including through the diversification of their sources of revenue. Furthermore, the capture of rents from these commodities represents a strategy to establish and strengthen territorial control in local communities. To test the empirical validity of these claims, we employ a multi-methods approach. First, analyzing municipal-level homicide data from 2007 to 2012, we find that access to revenues from these natural resources is associated with differences in violence rates among municipalities, but not changes within municipalities. Second, employing qualitative evidence from Michoacán state, we show that two different mechanisms (war profit and criminal governance) could explain the relationship between resources and conflict in the mining and export-oriented agricultural sectors.