Resistance Against the Narco-Machine: An Analysis of the Mexican Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity

Violence in Mexico has increased exponentially, especially since the decision of former president Calderón to start the ‘war on drugs’ in 2006. During the six years of the Calderón government (2006-2012), victims of the narco-war were treated as simple numbers, ‘collateral damages’ of a necessary war to protect the ‘security’ of the Mexican people. The Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD) emerged in 2011 to expose the inconsistencies of the war against drug-trafficking, criticize the official discourse of the government and the media, and restore the dignity of thousands of victims of the narco-machine. Even if the MPJD represents one of the most important movement emerged in Latin America in the last decade, there has been a considerable lack of academic attention, in particular outside of Mexico, towards its practices and its achievements. Drawing on an extensive review of the literature and on in-depth interviews with key actors of the movement, this article aims to fill this gap by providing an analysis of its emergence, its repertoire of contention, its communication practices and the central role played by the victims.