Narcos Research Paper

For this book review, I am going to be talking about David Montejano’s book entitled Quixote’s Soldiers, A local history of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981. The author’s purpose is very well explained and it is not hard to understand. The author clearly tries to explain different ideologies, individuals and organizations located in one of the Southwest’s major cities, San Antonio, Texas, during the late 1960s and early 190s.

After being called to come to the United States by his parents, he discusses his interactions with Border Patrol and beginning life in the United States. Some of the he fears he discussed, such as hiding his El Salvadorian nationality to avoid getting picked on, are the same fears my family members have had as being immigrants from Nigeria. However, just as my immigrant family members soon figured out, you cannot hide who you are, so the bullying continued. The feeling of loneliness and alienation that most young immigrants feel when coming to the United States may have been a key factor that encouraged Sanchez to join the MSS13 gang. However, Sanchez did not join MSS13 with the intentions of being a criminal, but with the hopes of feeling accepted and protected. Consequently, an individual who just wanted a sense of belonging became a target for the INS and LAPD. When deeply examining the life of a poor El Salvadorian immigrant struggling for survival, it should be expected that they would be more inclined to stealing food because they have no other choice. Nevertheless, the United States government, law enforcement, and criminal justice system has a bad habit of harshly punishing the person who committed the crime, without implementing the proper procedures to prevent the crime from happening in the first

That Sunday Antonio knew that town would be mourning the two deaths of Chavez’s brother and Lupito, along with the other sons and husbands that were directly caused by the war. On the way to church Antonio, who has been

By the 1900s, the word Manifest Destiny was everywhere. Every American believed that the expansion of the US was a “God-given right.” America had already doubled its size through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, but it had gotten another opportunity to expand in 1846. Texas had declared independence from Mexico in 1845, and applied for statehood. Ten years later, it was accepted into the Union and became one of the US states (province). Around this time, James K. Polk was president. Polk wanted much more of Texas, plus, he had his eye on California as well. Polk was a strong believer in Manifest Destiny and that was why he wanted to declare war on Mexico. The majority of Congress voted to declare war and it was put into action. The one question

‘Lo Mexicano’ is a phrase-turned-concept in 20th century Mexican philosophy. The term literally translates to “the Mexican,” however, it is also used to superficially describe the identity of the Mexican individual. The notion came about after the revolution; the phrase was meant to emphasize and unite Mexico as an independent people. Today, the phrase is understood as an all encompassing term for “mexicanness,” or that which makes someone a true mexican.

Imagine you and your family living under a gruesome dictator and having no freedom . Julia alvarez “ a genetics of justice “ is a novel about a young girl and her family living under a dictator with a totalitarian government in the dominican government.In this novel you learn about her journey and how she becomes to be the women she is today . “No flies fly into a closed mouth “is a quote used by her mother through the text. In the novel it also talks about the dictator and is unusual daily life . Alvarez and her family have a lot of trauma considering there lives in the dominican republic and living under the dictator,through it all alvarez's parents raised a daughter who would share their story in a fashionable matter that told the story how it was.

For many people who study literature almost all works of literature are related to eachother in some way or another. The most common relationship found between texts is some structure of a quest. In Thomas C. Foster’s book How to Read Literature Like a Professor a quest is described as “[consisting] of five things: A quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials, and a real reason to go there”(3). Though verifying that this works for every work of literature is impossible, finding novels that coincide with this definition is much easier, a good example being The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea.

There comes a time when a nation needs to realize that when a world crisis such as the “War on Drugs” persists in our society -- change is necessary. In the film Traffic directed by Steven Soderbergh, the “War on Drugs” is represented in different perspectives to illustrate the issue at diverse levels. Played by Michael Douglas, Robert Wakefield is an Ohio judge who’s appointed do the head drug position in the government. Through his point of view, it’s clear he holds the typical opinions and views of majority of people who are pro-criminalization of drugs. His daughter, an honor student, and your “perfect citizen” type character, is Caroline Wakefield played by Erika Christensen. It is through her point of view where we notice how easily drugs are available to her and how susceptible teenagers are to addiction. Finally, a unique and different perspective is shown through Javier Rodriquez played by Benicio Del Toro. Depicted as a “good cop” in Mexico, Javier is actively fighting against criminals, drug traffickers/smugglers and the reality of corruption in the Mexican military. Between the 3 we view the film at the political level of the drug war, the social level, and law enforcement level, respectively. Soderbergh uses different colors to distinguish between the several storylines. For instance, when we are played a scene involving Robert or Caroline, the overall color is a blue shade creating a “cold” feeling. When a scene involving Javier is played, the filter changes

The clip Revolutionary Leaders is about the Mexican revolution, what caused the war and the two main leaders of this war. The revolutionary leaders were Emiliano Zapata, who was in charge of the south and Francisco (‘Pancho’) Villa, who was in charge of the north. Both men wanted land reform and a weaker central government, but had different views for the land reforms.

"The Zetas have obviously assumed the role of being the number 1 organization responsible for most the homicides, the narcotic-related homicides, the beheadings, the kidnappings, the extortions that take place in Mexico," said US Drug Enforcement Agency’s chief for Mexico and Central America Ralph Reyes after the cartel murdered a police chief, his wife and four children in Veracruz, Mexico. Los Zetas were originally based on military lines, but the group has now been built into a business structure, with quarterly meetings, business ledgers, even votes on key assassinations, the DEA said.Los Zetas also post videos on the internet showing the killing of people. In one clip, posted in 2013, a group of masked men behead four women who allegedly were tied to a rival gang: The Gulf Cartel. The DEA is trying to stop the large drug distribution through foreign affairs but do not seem to be that big of a success

From 1966 to 1981 San Antonio, Texas, was a segregated city ruled by Anglos and important business people. The people who lived in the west and south sides of this city fell under housing. Gangs were really popular and broke out frequently. Then farm workers broke out in the strike and marched through the city’s streets forming a movement to get rid of the Anglos who took advantage of them. David Montejano, in this book, uses sources that are not open to anyone unless asked for. The author divides this book into three different parts. In the first part, he communicates to the reader how students with high leveled education and others get together to challenge the high-powered Anglos and Mexican American. In the second part, he examines how the Chicano movement flourished and how women and ex-gang members attempted to join the political world. In the final part, Montejano decided to include his point of view on how the political leaders that failed could’ve made a difference in the political world. This book was full of surprises, the way Montejano quotes actual people is just beautiful. He makes you feel like this was not so long ago and makes you feel part of it.

In the 1960’s the Mexican American population in cities like los angeles was big. As

Death occurring in Mexico has quickly raised over the years. Ashley Fantz in “The Mexico drug war: Bodies for billions” reported that five years until 2011 “nearly 48,000 people have been killed in suspected drug-related violence in Mexico.” I believe drugs violence will continue to increase and will lead into many more deaths in the future. However, there are a lot of rules and restrictions that can be put in place to lower death

Fate, by definition, is the universal principle by which the order of things is seemingly prescribed. (Webster) Essentially, fate is events that are inevitable that we have no power to change. It is debatable that fate exists among everyone; however, humans are subject to making their own choices- free will. No matter what choices people make, they do not change our fate. A different path is simply taken towards fate. Both fate and free will play an important role in determining the death of Santiago Nasar, the main character in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, written by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez.

Narcos, a biographical crime-drama, is a series that aims to vestige Pablo Escobar’s rise from a small-time smuggler to be the world’s most victorious drug lord. A simple man, plunged Colombia into chaos with campaigns including assassinations, terror bombings and kidnappings. At the same time, collecting a fortune, he was perfecting the business of transporting cocaine into United States. As products can be vehicles for transmission of values, it is always good to look beneath what we are consuming. Because Narcos, as much as I love the show, is a product loaded with ideology. Narcos may seem like a documentary, and it influences us to believe the story. But the history only becomes a mere device, only showing shredded pieces of the Colombian