Psychedelics, the War on Drugs, and Violence in Latin America

Diana Negrin

On September 22, 2021, six young Wixarika men between the ages of 16 and 32 were “disappeared” from a road that runs along the sinuous border between the western Mexican states of Jalisco and Zacatecas. Relatives and friends confirm that the young men had gone to carry out a traditional deer hunt. Within days, four of the six bodies were found bearing the marks of torture that are all too common in a country that acts as a hub for organized crime serving its northern neighbor’s notorious appetite for drugs. The threat of violence caused by the taking of land for cultivation, the use of roads to move product, and the capture of labor by these agents has created an intolerable environment for the Wixarika people... continue reading.