Combining on the ground reporting and in-depth discussions with people on the frontlines of Mexico's drug war, To Die in Mexico tells behind the scenes stories that address the causes and consequences of Mexico's multibillion-dollar drug-trafficking business. Gibler tells the hair raising stories of a Mexican journalist kidnapped, interrogated and threatened with death by the Gulf Cartel before being miraculously released; the story of a young guerrilla leader who tried to help small communities in the mountains of Guerrero say no to drugs and was then executed by narco-paramilitaries (Gibler interviewed him before his murder); family members of people killed in the conflict; survivors of assassination attempts and massacres; along with crime-beat photographers, funeral parlor workers, government officials, convicted traffickers, cab drivers and others who find themselves working against, with, or for the drug cartels. Gibler sees beyond the cops-and-robbers myths that pervade government and media portrayals of the unprecedented wave of violence and looks to the people of Mexico for solutions to the crisis now pushing Mexico to the breaking point.
Mexico Unconquered is an evocative report on the epic powers of violence and corruption in Mexico and the underdogs and rebels who put their lives on the line to build justice from the ground up.
Author John Gibler probes the overwhelming divisions in contemporary Mexico, home to the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, and to destitute millions. The book explores the concept of the Rule of Law in a land known for its implacable corruption and impunity; the political machinations behind Mexico's devastating economic disparities; the implications and consequences of the annual exodus of half a million Mexicans to the United States; the unprecedented civil disobedience uprising in Oaxaca state; and the continuing Indigenous Present that resists the government's attempts to confine Mexico's 10 million indigenous peoples to calm and controlled corners of the past.
Global Exchange supported John Gibler while writing Mexico Unconquered and reporting from Mexico from 2006-2008 with the Global Exchange Media Fellowship. Read his dispatches at GlobalExchange.org.
