The United States in the war on drugs: The perspective of narco-literature

Abstract

The United States government has waged a war on drugs for approximately half a century, a war framed as a matter of national security rather than public health. During this time, major Latin American drug traffickers have been extradited and imprisoned; however, very few U.S. citizens have been publicly implicated in the industry, creating a dichotomy between Latino criminals and American victims. Narco-literature offers its own historical perspective on this war, questioning the fact that Americans are not part of the business. Contrary to the official narrative, writers Don Winslow, Armando Ayala Anguiano, and Francisco Haghenbeck argue that the United States has used the war on drugs to its own advantage: to protect the profits of its top executives, to seize control of the world's most lucrative business, and to mask its political struggles against communism. Thus, these narco-literature writers are denouncing the fact that the United States is a fundamental part of the international drug trafficking network it seeks to combat.