A podcast with journalist Luis Chaparro

Luis Chaparro has been a border journalist for many years from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. He specializes in reporting on criminal organizations, corruption, and binational affairs. He has written for many publications in Mexico and the United States. And he is one of the few border-area journalists who consistently reports on and analyzes organized crime in Mexico. In July, I immediately went to Chaparro’s Substack newsletter, Sagewhen the big news broke that Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and a son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, notorious leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, had landed at a small airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, under the surveillance of U.S. law enforcement.

Part

In this podcast, Chaparro and I not only discuss the El Mayo Storywith its many twists and turns, but also how the idea of ​​a “drug cartel” has become outdated, as these are now huge, multinational criminal enterprises that control markets for everything from avocados to water. We also talk about the dangers facing reporters in Mexico, especially those who attempt to document the corruption of politicians and companies that participate in criminal organizations. And Chaparro talks about the incoming Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and compares her stance on the DEA and its “kingpin strategy” in Mexico, compared to the policies of the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The latter has an extremely icy relationship at the agency, which was investigating whether he received drug money during his 2006 presidential campaign.