Monday, July 6, 2015

THE NARCORREVOLUCIÓN™ OF THE AMERICAS REPORTS TO THE PRESIDENT AND CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

THE NARCORREVOLUCIÓN
OF THE AMERICAS
REPORTS TO THE PRESIDENT AND CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA




SHODAI J. A. OVERTON-GUERRA, BAH, BS, MA, MS
Institute Founder and Headmaster
7/4/2015

© Shodai Sennin J. A. Overton-Guerra, July 2015


ABSTRACT: A social, economic, political and cultural wave of violent transformation emanating largely from Latin American countries and resulting from the illegal narcotics trade – what I have coined the Narcorrevolución – is rapidly spreading across Western Industrialized nations. The United States, with its own growing Hispanic community, each and every day more socially, politically and economically influential; the European Union, with Spain as the main gateway to the rest of Europe; and the countries of West Africa through Guinea-Bissau, officially recognized as under the control of Latin American narco-cartels and therefore a threat to the rest of the continent, all are experiencing the early stages of a process of massive state collapse. We are therefore facing perhaps the greatest global threat to the political stability, economic prosperity and safety and security of the First World – and America in it – since the beginning of the Modern Era. The present document briefly introduces the nature of the Narcorrevolución, its origins and causes, and references potential solutions. 


PREFACE
TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
I am an American. A multiracial, multicultural American. Yes, I am African American; yes, I am Hispanic American; yes, I am Jewish American; yes, I am Native American; and yes, I am European American, but first and foremost I am just simply American.  This is a lesson the vast majority of you must learn. We are all on the same ship, and I have some bad news for you: our ship is sinking. Most Americans are either too busy with their heads in the sand in denial, arguing over preferred cabin space and ignoring our dire reality, or blaming each other rather than accepting the facts: no one is going anywhere.

Neither ignoring the problem, nor selfishly looking out for our own self-interests, nor blaming others will do us any good when we are all treading water in that forbidden ocean called “Third World Nationhood”. Don’t ask me if I am a Republican or a Democrat, a Liberal or a Conservative. All of those labels have proven themselves to be meaningless in the first quarter of the 21st century. We need to think more and feel less; we need to plan more and improvise less; we need to solve more and blame less; we need to analyze more and speculate less. As a nation we need to grow up and stop playing tic-tac-toe and learn how to play chess; we need to stop watching so much television and start reading and learning more math, science, and philosophy. We need to stop believing in the Tooth Fairy and start realizing that the only force we can count on, the only resources that are both invaluable and indispensable to our survival are OURSELVES and EACH OTHER, in other words – the AMERICAN PEOPLE. And we come in all shapes and sizes, in all colors and shades.

Many of you, who are members of visible minorities, have had terrible experiences with injustice and prejudice in this country. In my case, by far the greatest devastating tragedy in my life was occasioned by the tremendous corruption and blatant prejudice endemic to the Family Court system, which resulted directly in the rape of my then five-year old son and my total estrangement from two of my children. This can neither be forgiven nor forgotten. However, if I can set aside my own personal pain and still objectively consider what is best for the country as a whole, then so can you.
                                                   
Shodai Sennin J. A. Overton-Guerra

REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Mr. President,
There is a matter of utmost relevance to our national security and the future prosperity of our nation that must be brought to your attention. It is also an issue that will directly impact the legacy of your presidency – for although it is not a problem of your creation it is presently transpiring and unfolding on your watch and therefore demands – at the very least – the beginnings of a solution. I am referring to what I have coined the NarcorrevoluciónTM or “Narco-RevolutionTM” of the Americas[i].
American social, political, economic, and military analysts are usually brilliant at detailing the small picture. However, while they are quite remarkable, and arguably unparalleled at identifying, analyzing and classifying individual trees, they are also equally and notoriously incompetent when it comes to appreciating the nature of the forest. Mr. President, it is this type of “reductionist myopathy” that led this country’s intelligence communities to fail to identify the writing on the wall, resulting in the immediate loss of thousands of lives and billions of dollars during the 9/11 attack, and the subsequent loss of even more thousands upon thousands of lives, not to mention billions upon billions of dollars, that resulted from our consequent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Speaking in relative terms only, what we are facing here is a far greater threat than a handful of terrorists crashing a few planes into expensive real estate –we must step back from the trees to appreciate the forest.
As an individual of Jewish, Spanish, African and Native American descent what I am about to convey is neither intended to fuel the flames of the anti-immigration debate, nor is it intended to single out particular ethnic groups for discriminatory scrutiny. However, we must not shy from the truth for fear of what it may uncover. To the contrary, what is needed above all is to bring the matter to the nation’s attention as it affects all of us alike. Regardless of our race, ethnicity or cultural background we are all truly in the same boat: together we will either sink or sail.
Mr. President, I believe that the future of the United States of America, conceived of in terms of our economic prosperity, our political stability, our safety and security, and our continued status as a superpower is more dependent on the Hispanic population than any other single discernible factor. As one of your more illustrious predecessors, President Abraham Lincoln, aptly stated: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Having said that, Mr. President, today what we can readily describe as the ‘Spanish-speaking world’ is undergoing a state of unprecedented international crisis. This crisis is not merely of academic concern to us - it is a crisis that is inextricably linked with our own national interests both domestically and abroad. It is a crisis that is second to none as far as our national security is concerned; and – as I have already implied – it is a crisis that speaks more directly than any other to the future of our nation. 
Countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, and those belonging to the so-called “Triangle of Death” (Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala) are constantly in the international news for their exceedingly high rates of violence – often linked to drug trafficking. But in our quest to comprehend the forest we must not overlook the fact that many (if not most) Spanish-speaking communities and nations around the world are equally beset by scandals involving corruption, racketeering and organized crime to a degree disproportionate with most other civilized Western nations. We must therefore consider the issues pertaining to the Spanish-speaking world not as isolated trees beset by temporary social, political and economic troubles, but rather as a great forest accosted by profoundly and historically engrained cultural problems. And it is a forest, Mr. President, which does not neatly end at the border with Mexico, but rather extends deeply within all aspects of our American society:
Despite the fact that many individuals of Hispanic descent have distinguished themselves for their excellent contributions and ultimate sacrifices to our nation, in all levels and walks of life, we must also recognize that (statistically speaking) here in the United States of America the Hispanic (or “Latino” as some prefer) population is characterized by its low socioeconomic status as a whole ($40,963 per household per year in 2013, compared to $58,270 of White Non-Hispanics[ii] – almost 30% less), by the very low academic performance of its students (consistently falling behind national averages)[iii], by the very high rate of gang membership and affiliation amongst its youth, and by its exceedingly high rates of teenage pregnancies.
The relationship between Hispanic youth’s low academic achievement, population trends, and the future of our nation is succinctly summarized by the following passage from an article published two years ago (2013) in the Huffington Post:
As Hispanics surpass white Californians in population next year, the state becomes a potential model for the rest of the country, which is going through a slower but similar demographic shift. But when it comes to how California is educating students of color, many say the state serves as a model of what not to do.
In California, 52 percent of the state's 6 million school children are Hispanic, just 26 percent are white. And Hispanic students in general are getting worse educations than their white peers. Their class sizes are larger, course offerings are fewer and funding is lower. The consequence is obvious: lower achievement.
Just 33 percent of Hispanic students are proficient in reading in third grade, compared with 64 percent of white students. By high school, one in four Hispanic 10th graders in California cannot pass the high school math exit exam, compared with 1 out of 10 white students. And while overall test scores across the state have gone up in the past decade, the achievement gap hasn't changed. […]
"We're falling behind," said Antioch University Los Angeles provost Luis Pedraja. "Ultimately we will face a crisis where a majority of the U.S. population will be economically disadvantaged, which will reduce their spending power and contribution to taxes and Social Security, impacting all segments of society and our country's economic health.”[iv]
Mr. President, here is a brief sample of some simple but honest facts that support my previous claims: Hispanics have consistently, over the last almost twenty years, comprised nearly 50% of gang membership in the nation[v], “3 out of every 10 young Latinos say they have a friend or relative who is a current or former gang member[vi], and 46.3 per thousand Hispanic girls between the ages of 15 and 19 have babies, compared to 20.5 per thousand White Non-Hispanic girls of the same age.[vii] I remind you Mr. President, that many of your own experts and advisors have identified gangs as the hands and feet, the eyes and ears of those very same international drug cartels that are the object of our nation’s War on Drugs, and that some of those same advisors and experts have, for some years now, identified these very same drug cartels as a “big a threat as terrorism to our national security[viii].
I believe I am therefore standing on firm ground, Mr. President, when I respectfully suggest that in order to fully comprehend the nature of the problems that plague the Hispanic populations within our borders – and therefore formulate realistic and reliable solutions to those problems – we must first be willing to accept the cultural nature of their issues, and begin doing so by closely examining these very same cultural precedents within their countries of origin.
Recent studies carried out by the UN[ix]  and Gallup[x] independently confirm that the countries of Latin America are among the most violent in the world, surpassing even nations of Africa and the Middle East. In a recent announcement of December 16, 2014, the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights state that “Mexico is experiencing the worst crisis of violence since the Revolution: 22,000 forced disappearances, thousands of cases of torture, over 70 thousand extrajudicial executions and more than 160,000 forced relocations [xi].
However, Mexico is only part of a much broader and more ingrained pattern that involves most of the Latin American continent. In its own statement of December 3, also of 2014, the UNHCR (“United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”) reported that “Latin America and the Caribbean has more than 6 million internally displaced people, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons, and the region is also recently dealing with thousands of unaccompanied children fleeing north and seeking safety in Central America and beyond.[xii] All the evidence clearly indicates, Mr. President, that crises of this nature are likely to increase over the coming years: while in the past, “dictatorships, coups and civil wars displaced people from their homes in Central America, Haiti and elsewhere on the continent”, “today, rampant gang violence and wars between narcos are dislocating an increasing number of people from Mexico, Colombia and Central America. [xiii]
The result of these tragic events are directly linked to the lack of economic prosperity, political stability, and safety and security in the Hispanic World, which in turn have led to a child refugee crisis on the US-Mexican border – “of epic proportions [xiv]  – with serious political implications for the US government[xv] [xvi] [xvii] [xviii] [xix] [xx], as you yourself, Mr. President, are well aware. “Gang violence as the main cause of displacement caught the attention after nearly 70,000 children traveling alone – mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala – who were caught crossing the border between Mexico and the United States this year, more than double that of 2012.[xxi]  “However”, states Jan Egeland, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC): “This is just the tip of the iceberg. How many others were displaced and never reached the border? Many more. Latin America has to deal with this tremendous wave of violence, and the world has to help.[xxii]
Mr. President, part of that “world” which “has to help” includes the United States of America – not due to some extravagant sense of altruism which we can hardly afford, but due to some regular old fashioned very American pragmatic sense of self-interest and self-preservation: I respectfully remind you, Mr. President, that many of these very same gangs operating in Central America – as is clearly the case for example with the MS-13 and the MS-18 gangs – and whose activities are responsible for that very same refugee crisis which ultimately burnt a path to your doorstep, not only originated in America, but found their way to Latin America as a direct result of the decisions and advice of our so-called “experts” and former presidential advisors, who in their infinite wisdom and no doubt deep intellectual insight sought it appropriate to deport to nations who were already impoverished and broken by civil wars (resulting, of course, from US involvement); nations completely unequipped, untrained, and unaccustomed to the unique form of hardcore violence perpetrated by these American gangs that (in many cases) were manned by military-trained soldiers, and who were practical experts of the type of urban, low intensity, organized-criminal warfare that is a gang-banger’s daily routine. I also respectfully ask you, Mr. President, to keep in mind that almost 50% of those same types of gangs in the US are comprised of members of communities with close familial and cultural ties to Latin America, and in many cases to members of Latin American gangs and drug cartels. (Frankly, Mr. President, if we continue to rely on the wisdom and intellect of the kind of so-called experts and presidential advisors that got us into this mess in the first place, I fear that the next crisis will consist of Americans seeking refugee status at the Canadian border!)
We must therefore acknowledge two essential – of the many – interdependent factors that have combined and conspired to add to the high degree of complexity in the nature of the crisis that we are facing, both globally and nationally.
Firstly, we have America’s dismal record of failed domestic racial policies, as is clearly reflected in its inability as a nation to overcome the centuries-old racial barrier that has established an institutional wall of inequity between the haves and have-nots of this country – mostly along colored lines. Despite my criticism of Hispanic culture, Mr. President, let it be known on no uncertain terms that I am nonetheless very well aware – and equally critical – of the endemic nature of the corruption and racial discrimination engrained within this nation’s own judicial system – a reality which has personally cost me dearly – along with millions of my fellow Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans – and which I detail at great length in my book Mandated Report[xxiii]. I have personally experienced the type of failed domestic policies which have created the perfect conditions for socially ostracized minorities of color to fester in criminally-decadent environments devoid of the sort of educational and cultural reform that would convert them into productive, law-abiding members of society rather than hardcore criminals. What we are speaking of here, Mr. President, is America’s failure as a society to integrate millions of its citizens and residents into the fold of anything resembling an equitable social contract. The result has been the cultivation of an anti-social subculture which owes no debt of honor towards the society which continues to disown and disenfranchise its members.
Secondly, Mr. President, we have a long history of equally failed foreign policies, best characterized by the self-defeating adage of “short-term gain for long-term pain” and a consistent record of international “blowback” – which is how many catalogue the 9/11 attack. Rest assured, Mr. President, that no matter what your so-called experts and advisors relate to you, the refugee border crisis of 2014 is only the beginning.
What is the common denominator that links these two fatal flaws in American political, economic and social policy? Simple: our categorical failure (and often refusal) to recognize the importance of culture when determining political, economic and social policy. Likewise our lack of competency at recognizing the causal relationship between religious beliefs and values – which are at the core of culture – in determining the stability, security and prosperity, or lack thereof, of any given nation. Our own culturally engrained lack of appreciation of culture, Mr. President, is the reason why we lost the Vietnam War; it is why we are losing the War on Drugs; it is the reason why we are in free fall in the War on Terror while we insist on deluding ourselves into believing we are gliding. It is on cultural grounds that those two Wars – the War on Terror and the War on Drugs – are steadily coalescing on two interrelated fronts, both in Hispanic America and in the Hispanic Communities inside America, to create a Perfect Storm which – unless we change our culture as it pertains to American political, economic and social ideology, and fast – will undoubtedly sink us into the depths of third-world nationhood. We need to seriously reevaluate our own capacity to evaluate; however, as long as we continue to conceive of ourselves as “one nation under God”, we will equally continue to deny ourselves the necessary critical objectivity and rational self-awareness required to do so.
Culture – in this particular case Hispanic culture – is the reason that for centuries no single Spanish-speaking country has been able to adjust to the competitive exigencies of the Modern world in providing a sustainable and decent modicum of economic prosperity, political stability and safety and security, even for its most precious and vulnerable citizens: its own children. Sending thousands upon thousands of unaccompanied and unprotected children over thousands of miles of perilous territory is an act of desperation few Americans can even hope to imagine. This speaks volumes to the current state of affairs in many Latin American nations.
Slightly over two hundred years ago, Mr. President, a predecessor of yours, Thomas Jefferson (1762-1826), one of the most illustrious defenders of freedom and democracy of his day, one of the Founding Fathers of the new nation of the United States, author of the famous Declaration of Independence and third President to the budding nation of America (1801 to 1809), demonstrated his understanding of the critical role of culture (and religion) when he wrote the following words regarding the relationship between the religiosity of a people and their lack of preparedness for the establishment of effective democracy, which he observed in the emerging countries of Latin America:
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. The vicinity of New Spain to the United States, and their consequent intercourse, may furnish schools for the higher, and example for the lower classes of their citizens. And Mexico, […] may revolutionize itself under better auspices than the Southern provinces. These last, I fear, must end in military despotisms. The different casts of their inhabitants, their mutual hatreds and jealousies, their profound ignorance and bigotry, will be played off by cunning leaders, and each be made the instrument of enslaving others.[xxiv] [Letter to Alexander von Humboldt December 6, 1813]
Slightly over two hundred years after President Jefferson wrote his wise and prophetic words of caution, we can certainly corroborate the following: Mexico did not “revolutionize itself”, history still “furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government”, and Mexico, as well as the “Southern provinces” – in other words, Latin America as a whole – precisely due to this “lowest grade of ignorance” and “profound ignorance and bigotry”, is still unprepared for its own freedom while “civil and religious leaders” continue to take advantage of this condition “for their own purposes.” Regrettably, America has also been among those who have taken advantage of this state.
However, Mr. President, as we continue to apply the analogy of the tree, and we comprehend clearly how culture plays an inevitable role in the social, economic, and political reality of any and every nation, we consequently realize that the fruit of Latin America’s decadence falls not far from the Spanish tree of depravity. While reports of Latin American violence and corruption continue to fill the news, incessant reports of corruption scandals involving all levels of the “Motherland’s” political infrastructure[xxv] [xxvi] [xxvii], right up to and including members of the Spanish Royal Family[xxviii], continue to make international headlines.
In the meantime, as we stroll through the Hispanic cultural forest (and depending on the specific definition we apply to the term) numerous are the Spanish-speaking countries that are either classified as “narco-states” or are in the process of becoming one: Venezuela[xxix] [xxx] [xxxi] [xxxii] [xxxiii], Mexico[xxxiv] [xxxv] [xxxvi] [xxxvii] [xxxviii] [xxxix] [xl], Puerto Rico[xli] [xlii] [xliii] [xliv] [xlv] [xlvi], Argentina[xlvii] [xlviii] [xlix] [l], Bolivia[li] [lii] [liii] [liv] , Peru[lv] [lvi] [lvii], El Salvador[lviii] [lix] [lx], Honduras[lxi] [lxii] [lxiii], Guatemala[lxiv] [lxv] [lxvi] [lxvii], Costa Rica[lxviii] [lxix], etc., tracing a direct path of political, economic and social regimes – cultural regimes – dominated by organized crime ranging from Tierra del Fuego, up the Andean cordillera, into the Amazon, through Central America and Mexico, and across the US border into the Hispanic communities and neighborhoods of the most powerful country – and the greatest “narcomarket” – of the planet, threatening the demise of the American empire in a whirlwind of violence, gangs, socioeconomic mediocrity, organized crime and endemic corruption – that is to say, Mr. President, what I have coined a “Narcorrevolución” of its own. Across the Atlantic, Spain is already officially recognized as the main portal of illegal narcotics throughout Europe[lxx] [lxxi] [lxxii] [lxxiii] [lxxiv]. Provided its culture’s own proclivity to corruption, it is only a matter of time before Spanish officials place their corruptibility at the disposal of the Cartel’s “narcoeuros” – if they have not done so already. The Narcorrevolución, Mr. President, is not only a clear and present danger to our national security and our future, but it is already well underway in America.
Endemic corruption, of which the status of narco-state is only but one, albeit extreme, variant, is rapidly becoming (in the second decade of the 21st century) the most representative characteristic of the political regime, the social fabric and the economic system of many Hispanic countries and communities worldwide. While political corruption represents for any nation the usurpation of the power of the state into the hands of the highest bidder – thereby completely bypassing the democratic electoral process while implementing the depravity of crime into the core of all forms of its governmental institutions – for Spanish-speaking countries (most of whom have struggled for centuries to achieve some manner of political stability, safety and security, and economic prosperity) this widespread degree of corruption does not reflect a temporary condition, but rather a cultural feature that begins with its beliefs (especially its religious beliefs), its customs, its tastes and preferences, and expresses itself through the principles and values of the people themselves: it therefore has no solution that could be conceived as being either purely political or economic, but rather requires a profound and radical cultural reform akin to a cultural counter-revolution.
This is a great challenge for us as a nation, and yet, as a culture, we are not particularly suited to the necessary self-critical philosophical analysis required for deep ideological deliberation. As a result, it is not that we have forgotten that the pen is mightier than the sword – it is that we never learned that lesson in the first place: while science and technology are America’s strengths, lack of philosophical wisdom continues to be America’s Achilles Heel.
Our inability to project the nature of conflict into an ideological arena is simply the logical result of America’s own paucity of social and political philosophical depth. Indeed, while some of our Founding Fathers were counted amongst the more renowned minds of their time, Americans of their intellectual stature have seldom since graced the halls of academe, much less those of the Senate, Congress, the Supreme Court, nor – no offense intended – the White House.
The trappings of our economic and military might have been quite seductive, and we have repeatedly abused that power. America, Mr. President, has been certainly more responsible, directly and indirectly, for more acts of state-sponsored terror both within its borders as well as abroad than any other First World government over the last fifty years – and I am not only referring to the Senate’s recent report on the CIA’s torture program[lxxv], but also, for example, to the fact that we “boast” one of the highest incarceration rates in human history, higher even than Stalin’s Russia or Mao’s China. Around the world we are renowned for being the harbingers of torture and death rather than the heralds of ideas and enlightenment.  We destroy, but we do not build; we kill but we do not sway; we punish but we do not reward; we bribe but we do not inspire. 
This must end.
To add clarity to the issue, Mr. President, the War on Drugs as well as the War on Terror are, at their very essence, wars of cultural ideology. This is the new warfare of the 21st century, and the battlefield is the minds of the masses. This is not the kind of warfare one wins by resorting to torture, or by dropping bombs, directing drones, or shooting bullets. In fact, nothing resists cultural change more than direct physical opposition to its ideologies. This is the kind of warfare that requires new strategies, new rules of engagement, and a new breed of warriors and generals. To succeed in this new front we must successfully engage, capture and transform the hearts and minds of those who would otherwise be our enemies and convert them into allies – into partners in our success. This is a type of warfare that America has historically (due to its own cultural ideology) been ill-suited to recognize, much less win. We must be willing to transform cultures otherwise destined for failure and misery; but we must first be willing to transform ourselves. This is the Great Challenge America faces today.
The type of endemic institutional corruption – much of which is linked to drug trafficking – manifestly present in many countries of Hispanic culture decries the complete and utter failure of the democratic process in one of the oldest and most widespread cultures and civilizations of the Western world. In other words, during this second decade of the 21st century, what we are witnessing, Mr. President, as a direct result of this pervasive Narcorrevolución, is no less than the death of democracy throughout most of the Hispanic World, together with the birth of a new form of government: “mafiaocracy”.  Do not think for one moment, Mr. President, that we in America are immune to this global trend. I respectfully remind you of the rampant corruption and the general surge of organized crime that characterized the Prohibition Era of the previous century under the Volstead Act.
Indeed, this Narcorrevolución has not only permeated the innermost aspects of Hispanic culture and their governments, but it also foreshadows the collapse of the same. This collapse, in turn, will not only inevitably threaten to spread to the rest of the international community, but it will create a living nightmare for our border officials as they are forced to process the deluge of refugees desperately seeking assistance from the United States.
The United States, with its own growing Hispanic community, each and every day more socially, politically and economically influential; the European Union, with Spain as the main gateway of the Narcorrevolución to the rest of Europe; and the countries of West Africa through Guinea-Bissau[lxxvi] [lxxvii] [lxxviii] [lxxix] [lxxx] [lxxxi], officially recognized as under the control of Latin American narco-cartels and therefore a threat to the rest of the continent[lxxxii] [lxxxiii] [lxxxiv] [lxxxv], all are experiencing the early stages of this process of massive state collapse. We are therefore, Mr. President, facing perhaps the greatest global threat to the political stability, economic prosperity and safety and security of the First World – and America in it – since the beginning of the Modern Era at the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.
What is no doubt required, Mr. President is a new line of thinking quite alien from what American-trained (and even Western-trained) social and political analysts have time and time again proven themselves capable. Our present and future depends on it.
As one who firmly believes that if you are not part of the solution, you are the problem, I have addressed all of these (and many other relevant) issues in my work “Chronicles of a Perfect Storm: The Narcorrevolución, the International Crisis of the Hispanic World and Biopsychocultural Philosophy”.
My study pursues a new line of interdisciplinary analysis of culture – one which is clinical in nature. It analyzes the nature of the crisis (diagnosis), traces the history of its origins (etiology), offers a projection of future scenarios in the event that it continues to develop unabated and according to its current status and trajectory (prognosis), and finally proposes a systemic cultural treatment plan to effectively and efficiently manage the crisis. The ideas presented here are innovative, and founded upon a new perspective and paradigm for the analysis of culture – one which includes and integrates the humanities and social sciences (literature, history, religion, sociology, politics and economics, etc.) but which is based on the study of complex systems, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, paleoanthropology, primatology, genetics, molecular biology, and cognitive and affective neuroscience.
The perspectives, arguments and conclusions of this extensive and meticulous study have implications for the national policies of Hispanic and African countries alike, as well as for the national and foreign policies of the United States of America and the nation-members of the European Union.
In conclusion, what this Narcorrevolución demonstrates is that we are dealing with a causal chain of interdependent relationships. The future of America is entangled with the present of its Hispanic communities, and the present of its Hispanic communities is entangled with Latin America’s present and past. We cannot change Latin America’s past, but we must comprehend this past in order to better manage its present and thus ensure a better future for all.
Welcome to the forest Mr. President.
Sincerely,
Shodai Sennin J. A. Overton-Guerra


“AMERICA, CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH?”

REPORT TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES

America, let me tell you something that you desperately need to hear. It comes in the words of a Mexican political activist friend of mine, a person with whom I have communicated (and argued) over the years; here, he comments on my Spanish book titled “Crónicas de una Tormenta Perfecta: La Narcorrevolución, La Crisis Internacional del Mundo Hispano y la Biopsicofilosofía Cultural”:
Master Shodai I will share my comments with you:  The Narcorrevolución is a lurking danger to all countries, this is due to the lack of real democracy in countries, caused primarily by the US, a country that has impoverished the world, a country that has amassed the wealth of others in a place [the US] where all white collar thieves wish to be. It is well known that most corrupt [Mexican] politicians have properties in the US and send their children to study there. The US is a country which has the best universities because it has an overabundance of money for research, [because] it brings together the best talent in the world by buying them with money, yet despite having all the money in the world it cannot surpass the [quality of the primary and secondary] education [system] in Finland.

The US is responsible for Mexico being mired in both intellectual and economic poverty. If we review history, the US has always intruded into the problems of Mexico, providing weapons to create a state of terror in our country. It is common knowledge that the US is the main supplier of weapons to drug cartels. What does it gain with this? That we [Mexicans] are always at war with ourselves so that in this way we cannot grow as a country. I once read a book which made mention of a character in the US who said that it was not necessary to invade Mexico, we just needed to take students who were destined to rule the country, have them study in the US so that by studying in his country, they would acquire the complete ideology of the US so that upon their return to Mexico they would inadvertently be responsible for plundering the country. This can be seen in all of Mexico’s corrupt politicians who have in common having studied at US universities.

But what has caused the boundless ambition of these corrupt politicians? The [very] Narcorrevolución which will soon infect the US, as it has the countries of Latin America. When the US realizes that the evil it spawned in the rest of the countries has reached it, it will not be able to extricate itself so easily from that [very same] evil, because it will be engaged in a war amongst its own people. Currently with the reforms of EPN [Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto], the US has become the owner of all of the riches of Mexico; corrupt politicians have led PEMEX [Mexico’s national petroleum company] to a state of bankruptcy so that US companies may plunder the oil. Why have Latin-Americans reached this point? Because we have lost any sense of the humanity of our fellow compatriots; those who are corrupt do not mind leaving the country in ruins so that they may earn millions at the cost of [the] blood [of others], and then take all the money to the US.

I will tell you something that happened to me recently; one day I posted onto Facebook news pertaining the state of Puebla, where it was mentioned that in the municipality of Oriental [in Puebla, Mexico] there were interests from mining companies to mine gold, but inquiring among communal landholders I found out that these US and Canadian mining companies were paying the paltry sum of $5,000.00 pesos [approximately $326.42 US] per hectare [less than 2.5 acres] so they can do surveys for several years. In posting the news I wrote a comment regarding the payment they [the US and Canadian companies] intended to make and I added some research by the UNAM [Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico] in which they claimed that the companies paid less than 0.6% royalties on whatever gold they mined, so [in conclusion] they were looting the country. Do you know what an illegal Mexican living in America replied? “Let them steal, if we [ourselves] are not able to extract it better, then let them take it”. This is the degree of stupidity to which we [Mexicans] have arrived. How is it possible that Mexicans do not have a higher degree of intelligence?
But what does the [Mexican] government do? It dedicates itself to amend any law [in order] to allow for the legal plunder of Mexicans. And how has the government managed to destroy the country? By way of the Narcorrevolución: any politician at all levels of government is supported by drug traffickers to gain power. But I think that as Mexico is sliding ever deeper into crisis, into a [complete] lack of VALUES, our neighbor in the US will gradually suffer the same fate as our country in reaching a breaking point, after all it is already there because its inhabitants are amongst the most addicted in the world.

Since I can remember, several studies have cataloged Mexicans and Latin Americans as bad for the US, [stating that] we are ignorant, we are violent, etc., only for being Mexican. But could it not be that these studies are wrong? Why think like that at all? Why cannot we see another possible solution to the problem? Why do we pigeonhole ourselves as an evil to the US? Could it not be that the real evil is the US itself? Most people I know who think like Americans do are people who have lost all sense of humanity towards our [Latin American] people; they are unscrupulous people who live from plundering and just think of money.
For all too long I have criticized [Mexican] immigrants because upon returning to our country, they come back worse than they were before; all they think about is getting money the easiest way possible, and since they do not want to get to work and prefer to seek the more rapid means to get money what do they do? Traffic in drugs. So, summarizing, I think that the solution to the problem is to not think that Latin Americans should be servants to the US, which leads me [in turn] to think: What would happen if instead of thinking that we are a drag on the US, we not think that they [the Americans] are the real problem?

There are several quite disturbing things about my friend’s commentary that the American public needs to know. First of all, in the ten years that I lived in Mexico teaching eclectic courses in political theory, current affairs, world history, literature, and psychology; in the year I spent visiting extensively in the Sao Paulo area of Brazil; in my brief visit to Cuba; in the ten years I spent living, travelling and studying in Europe; in the fourteen years I spent living in Canada, and in the twenty odd years I invested as a university student and lecturer in American and Canadian universities – I can affirm that my friend’s perspective reflects that of most people I have known. Internationally as well as domestically, most liberally educated intellectuals, most foreigners, as well as the vast majority of educated African Americans and Hispanics in the US perceive America as the international villain who will inevitably get its “comeuppance”.

No surprises there. Unfortunately, the focus of his commentary does not remotely reflect the contents of my book, which explains the nature of my reply:
[First of all] You confuse a summary with a commentary. What is clear to me is that you still refuse to understand that the world always has been and always will be to the most competitive, to the most adaptive, to the fittest, to the strongest. I think if this [the above commentary] is your only conclusion [after having read my book] that there is honestly no hope for Mexico, because if I failed to broaden the perspective of someone as educated and rational as yourself, then there is no chance that your fellow compatriots will come to recognize that THEY HAVE TO CHANGE in order to adapt, compete, and fit into today's world. If they do not, then surely what awaits Mexico is a fate akin to the destruction that befell Iraq and Afghanistan.
You continue thinking as Latin Americans have thought for centuries. What good has it done you? Are you not capable of comprehending that God will not intervene on your behalf and that no one [in the international community] cares about “good” or “bad”, but simply about their own best interests, i.e., being or becoming wealthy and powerful? The real question is not how the US has, or continues to, exploit your country, but in what manner Mexicans themselves, as a culture, NEED to change in order to alter the [current] situation to the benefit of Mexico – rather than continue on its current path to destruction. The answer is simple: Stop being foolish and ignorant about the ways of the real world, stop denying your own cultural responsibility – however small you affirm that to be – in creating, maintaining, and propagating your current state of affairs,  and [start] adapt[ing] to the world – rather than whining about how the world just exploits you the way you are. Acquire through training and education the necessary behaviors, the precise intellectual perspectives and beliefs, and the required worldview you need to be competitive and stop being either the perpetual victims of economic exploitation or the future victims of a certain military devastation. Adapt or perish.

You do not do your people any favors insisting upon affirming their victim mentality. As you yourself have confirmed: Nobody cares. Not the international world; not your own politicians; not even your own people themselves because if they cared they would have learned their lesson a long time ago. I hold no sympathy for a man who, compelled by his own foolishness, self-pity and obstinacy, would prefer to wallow on the ground demanding satisfaction from another who allegedly tripped him, rather than stand up of his own accord and do so at the slightest opportunity. Such a man knows no dignity; such a man knows no honor; such a man is not a man, but rather an obdurate and undisciplined child. I am disappointed at your response because it condemns your people to certain economic devastation and perhaps even military invasion and massacre. […]

Why is my reply so ‘harsh’? Because, despite the fact that I do not altogether disagree with what my friend says, there are more constants and variables to the complex Latin American social, political and economic equation than can be summarized by blaming the corrupting effects of foreign multinationals and local politicians.

There is another less well known – but historically more incisive – perspective on the problem, one which most people – even educated scholars – either do not know or choose to ignore. It is a perspective which sheds a particular light on the degree to which the culture of the Latin American peoples have conspired – together with the exploitative and corrupting effects of foreign and domestic interests – to bring about their own continued demise. It is a perspective propounded by none other than Simon Bolivar, the “Liberator” of the South. Here, in his very last letter, addressed to General Juan José Torres, Bolivar summarizes what he learned about the nature, and consequent future, of Latin American society. Note that Bolivar’s description of Latin America and its native inhabitants comes at the end of his storied career as one of history’s most successful military commanders and influential figures:
You know that I have governed for 20 years and I have not derived from them more than a few certainties: [Latin] America is ungovernable for us. 2nd, those who serve a revolution [in Latin America] plough the sea. 3rd, the only thing you can do in [Latin] America is emigrate. 4th, this country [the Latin American continent] will fall inevitably into the hands of the frenzied crowds, then go to almost imperceptible tyrants, of all colors and races. 5th, devoured by every crime and extinguished by savagery, not even the Europeans will stoop to conquer us. 6th, if it were possible that part of the world revert back to primitive chaos, this would be the last period of [Latin] America.[lxxxvi]

History as well as current events have proven Bolivar prophetically accurate inasmuch as his particularly insightful understanding of Latin American culture and its inherent, core incapacity to generate the kind of social wellbeing, political order and stability, and economic prosperity required for a stable democracy. As I have stated elsewhere, and as far as the vast majority of Hispanic countries are concerned, the social and political experiment we call ‘democracy’ has failed. This, I must add, is an alarming fact with tremendous implications for both US foreign and domestic policy. Nevertheless, it is a fact which I have yet to hear an American politician or a scholar even acknowledge, much less provide the attention it demands. This is the second thing the American people must know.

In case you did not read my matching “REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES”, I share with you another perspective, this time of an American politician and intellectual, who weighs in heavily on the subject of Latin America:
That they [the Latin Americans] will throw off their European dependence I have no doubt; but in what kind of government their revolution will end I am not so certain. History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. The vicinity of New Spain [Mexico] to the United States, and their consequent intercourse, may furnish schools for the higher, and example for the lower classes of their citizens. And Mexico, where we learn from you that men of science are not wanting, may revolutionize itself under better auspices than the Southern provinces [the rest of Latin America]. These last, I fear, must end in military despotisms. The different casts of their inhabitants, their mutual hatreds and jealousies, their profound ignorance and bigotry, will be played off by cunning leaders, and each be made the instrument of enslaving others.

What Thomas Jefferson reflects in this letter to Alexander von Humboldt on December 6, 1813, simply confirms Simon Bolivar’s personal assessment of a decade and a half earlier. The third thing that Americans need to know is that what was confirmed by Jefferson and Bolivar in the 19th century is far more the case today in the 21st – as the cultural, social, economic, and political radical upheaval I have coined the “Narcorrevolución” makes painfully obvious.

I include yet another, more modern perspective on the reality of Latin America as a whole. First printed on May 23, 2006 in the newspaper O Globo of Brazil, is an (alleged) interview with Marcos Williams Herbas Camacho (alias “Marcola”) who began his criminal career at eight years of age as a pickpocket and ultimately became the leader of the Sao-Paulo-based narco and prison gang known as the “First Command of the Capital” (“Primeiro Comando da Capital” or simply PCC for short). In Brazil Marcola is widely considered the “capo of the favelas”. As a point of reference, if you wish to think of him as the Brazilian equivalent of the Mexican “El Chapo Guzman”, the American Al Capone, or the Colombian Pablo Escobar, you would be more or less on the right track – except (at least in the present interview) that he is ten times more eloquent and a hundred times more dangerous:

Reporter: Are you [a member] of the PCC?
Marcola: More than that, I am a sign of these times. I was poor and invisible. For decades you didn’t pay any attention to me and formerly the solution to the problem of misery was easy. The diagnosis was obvious: rural migration, unbalanced income, a few villas miseria (slum districts) […]; the solution never did come up… ¿What did they [the government] do? Nothing. Has the Federal Government ever reserved certain part of the budget for us? We were news only when the slums (favelas) collapsed in the mountain or in romantic tunes like "the beauty of these mountains at dawn", those kinds of things… Now we are rich with the multinational drug business. And you are scared to death. We are the late coming of your social conscience, do you see? I am educated. I read Dante in prison.
[…]
Reporter: But the solution would be…?
Marcola: Solution? There is no solution, brother. The very idea of a “solution” is a mistake. Have you seen the size of the 560 slums (“villas miseria”) of Rio [de Janeiro]?
Have you ridden in helicopter over Sao Paulo’s surroundings? Solution? How…? A solution could only come with many billions dollars spent in organized ways, with a ruler of high level, an enormous political will, economic growth, revolution in the education, general urbanization and the entire process would have to be under the direction of an almost "visionary tyranny" jumping over the secular bureaucratic paralysis to beat the Legislative accomplices [of the drug trade]. Do you think that these bloodsuckers (sanguessugas) are not going to act? If one isn’t careful, they are even going to steal from the PCC. And [change] […] the Court [system] which impedes punishments. The country must have a radical reform of the penal process, must share communications and intelligence among municipal, provincial and federal police (even we make “conference calls” between convicts...) and this change would cost billions and would imply a deep psycho-social change in the political structure of the country. That is [in other words]: impossible. There is no solution.
[…]
Reporter: What has changed in the periphery [margins of society]?
Marcola: Money. Now we have it. Do you think that he who has 40 million dollars, like Beira Mar [famous Brazilian convict], does not give orders? A prison becomes a hotel or an office if you have 40 million dollars available. What police [officer] will burn that gold-mine? Do you understand? We are a modern and wealthy company. If the officer miscarries, he is fired and put in the “microwave oven. You are the bankrupt state overpowered by incompetent people. We have agile management methods. You are slow and bureaucratic. We fight in our own field. You fight in a strange land. We do not fear death. You are dying of fear. We are well armed. You have caliber .38s. We are on the attack. We are cruel and merciless. You have transformed us into the “super-starsof crime. You are clowns. We are assisted by the population of slums, for fear or for love. You are hated. You are regional, provincial. Our weapons and products come from outside and are global. We do not forget you; you are our clients. You forget us once the violence produced by us is over.
[…]
Reporter: But, what should we do?
Marcola: I am going to give you an idea, although it goes against me [my interests]. Get to “the white dust lords” (cocaine)! There are representatives, senators, there are generals, and there are former presidents of the Paraguay in the [business] of cocaine and weapons trafficking. But, who is going to do that? The army? With what money? They do not have money to feed their recruits. The country is bankrupt, supporting a dead state with interests of 20% a year, and Lula [then president of Brazil] still increases public expenses, employing 40 thousand bloodsuckers. The army will be going to fight against the PCC? I am reading Klausewitz "On War". There is no successful scenario. We are devouring ants hidden in the corners. We have anti-tank missiles. If they [the army] fuck [with us], we'll fire some Stinger [missiles]. To put an end to us… only with an atomic bomb in the villas miseria. Did you think of that? Radioactive holocaust?
[…]
Reporter: But… will there not be a solution?
Marcola: You only can get some success if you give up your defense of "normality". There is no more normality. You need to do a self-analysis of your own incompetence. But to be clear, seriously [...] We are all in the center of the insoluble thing. Only that we live inside and you have no way out. You have only shit. And we are already working inside this shit. Understand me, brother, there is no solution. Do you know why? Because you do not understand the extent of the problem. As the divine Dante wrote: “Lose all hope. We are in hell”. [Emphasis mine.][lxxxvii]

Marcola is right – “we are in hell” and you, the American people especially, have no clue as to the severity, nature or scope of the problem. This is the fourth thing the American people need to know.

Who cares if the interview is real if it’s really true? And I know it is. Marcola is right; my friend the Mexican political activist is right; Simon Bolivar is right; Thomas Jefferson is right. I am also right. This is the fifth thing the American people need to know. I have been on the frontline of the Narcorrevolución since it began to take off in the 70s and early 80s when I ran with gangs in the streets of Madrid; I was on the frontline in the late 80s and early 90s when I worked as an interpreter in the Canadian penal system – maximum, medium, and minimum security – where 99% of my clients were incarcerated on drug-related charges; I have seen firsthand the slums of Sao Paolo and knew enough to change my mind as far as relocating and committing my limited resources to do business in Brazil – even if I do love Brazilian culture; I was on the frontline when I worked as a psychology intern in an American juvenile correctional facility in San Diego; and I was on the frontline for 10 years in Mexico, where I ran a small family psychology clinic, a martial arts program, and an education institute in Tijuana, one of the most dangerous cities in one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The situation is hopeless for Latin Americans, if left to themselves; they neither have the social conscience, the political awareness, nor the economic wherewithal to help themselves – it’s simply a matter of culture. Marcola is, however, wrong about one thing: the situation is not hopeless for Americans – not yet anyway.

This brings us to the sixth thing Americans need to know: the Narcorrevolución is an American continent-wide (and even global) phenomenon. There is no point in deluding yourselves into thinking that the problem can be contained south of the US border. It is far too late for that. Not to mention it would never work. The drug lords may not be Ivy League grads themselves, but they are far from stupid, not to mention the fact that they have millions, even billions of dollars to hire the best brains on the planet to remove whatever obstacle comes between them and their profits – and they will do so by whatever means necessary. If they can’t outsmart it, they will bribe it, and if they can’t bribe it they will simply kill it. The chickens have indeed come home to roost and America’s social, political, economic, and military history – American culture itself – is about to face a crisis far greater than it encountered during the Civil War, the Vietnam War, and Prohibition combined. The enemy is inside our very borders, and it is not the Hispanic people but rather America’s own dominant cultural ideology which makes it as naïve as it is ignorant to the reality it itself conspires to create – just as ignorant and just as naïve as my Mexican activist friend is about his own. The Narcorrevolución has metastasized throughout the entire continent – North, Central, and South – and as a result America is tearing itself apart from within. This is the seventh thing the American people need to know, and they need to know it now.

The United States of America has had an ongoing history of racial prejudice and inequality, as well as racially inspired hatred and violence. It is precisely because of this ongoing history that few people dare to stand up and denounce the unforgiving and hostile realities that are inexorably driving our great country into the dark and desolate waters of Third World nation status, an excursion from which there will be no return. No matter how you slice it, how you dice it, how you wrap it up and present it, a rose remains a rose remains a rose. There are certain facts regarding the current state of American affairs that are, to the objectively trained observer at least, simply at once too impossible to ignore, but often too controversial – to say the least – to openly consider. Recently, billionaire Donald Trump, in his speech to announce his bid for the candidacy for the Republican Party, crossed that ‘racial comfort line’ that most Americans choose to avoid. I will neither defend Mr. Trump’s tact (or lack thereof), nor will I comment on the contents of his message. My focus here instead is on the response he provoked from Adriana Almanza, a 28 year-old Mexican-American woman who felt greatly offended by Mr. Trump’s comments to the tune of posting the following Open Letter to Mr. Trump on her Facebook wall:
Dear Mr. Donald Trump, I'd like to take a minute to introduce you to my father, Raul Almanza. As you so eloquently put it, he is one of the many that Mexico "sends" to this country. Yesterday, I turned 28 years old and I was blessed to have had the opportunity to share my special day with my dad as it was Father's Day, as well. In fact, yesterday wasn't about me at all.. It was about him. Let me tell you why. 30 something years ago, Mexico "sent" my father to the United States.. or "El Norte" as we call it. It is no secret that he came here undocumented, unauthorized, or "illegal" as you call it. He worked his ass off in the fields.. traveling from state to state to find work. He helped provide for his parents and 9 siblings back home. And when I was born, he no longer held the title of just a son, brother, provider, and migrant worker- he finally earned the title of Father. Raul doesn't have what you call a "formal education". He left high school early on to work and contribute to the household financially. But that doesn't mean anything. When I was young, I would come home where my dad never hesitated to help me with my homework; he instilled in me the importance of education and a degree, even though he didn't have one. My dad has worked 5-6 days a week since I was a child and I've never heard him complain about it one time. He doesn't drink. He doesn't use drugs. He is certainly not a criminal, rapist, or drug trafficker, as your speech suggested. Mr. Trump, in your speech, you claimed that Mexico doesn't send the U.S. their best. But I beg to differ. If my dad is any representation of the type of people Mexico "sends", there is no doubt in my mind this country is getting the best. The problem is that you and I have a different definition of "the best". I sit here now with a Masters degree and a rewarding career. You know what that means? Absolutely nothing. My entire life the only thing I ever wanted was to make my dad proud. I wanted to be sure he knew that his sacrifices would never be taken for granted. We are not rich in wealth, sir. But we are rich in what matters.. knowledge, culture, & faith. We come from humble beginnings.. and every year we are reminded of that when we travel to Mexico to visit our beautiful family. To us, THAT is what matters. The best, to me, are those that work hard and still remain humble. That is exactly what my father embodies; that is exactly what the other millions of Mexicans embody. Perhaps you should get to know more people like my dad; there are millions just like him. Then, you'd see for yourself .. & instead of bashing Mexico.. you'd thank Mexico.. for sending us their "best".[lxxxviii]

Anyone could appreciate if not openly sympathize with Miss Almanza’s point of view, particularly someone such as myself with my own close-family ties to Mexico. Her case seems quite compelling, even moving. Indeed, as her letter went viral, well over 320,000 Facebook users, mostly Hispanic but not exclusively so, agreed with her and expressed their anger at what they deemed Mr. Trump’s racist comments. Ethnic alliances and sociopolitical ideologies, however, tend to blind people to the facts and distort their perceptions of reality. Despite the fact that this is most certainly human nature, that does not make it excusable. Notwithstanding Miss Almanza’s emphatic denial of any relation with criminal or otherwise antisocial activity, a thorough knowledge of the culture motivated me to take a closer look at her Facebook wall – and get a better sense of who she really is. Upon doing so, my inspection revealed a very telling image, one which she removed shortly after I took the following screenshots on June 24, 2015:
  




The narco and the narcocultura are cultural realities which are devastating Mexico’s social, political and economic infrastructure – not to mention America’s own!  Anyone who thinks that Mexico’s narcocultura is a laughing matter is at the very least callous and insensitive, not to mention ignorant. For someone with a “Master’s degree”, particularly a Mexican-American with a Master’s degree, it is nothing short of despicable. It not only removes any credibility from her defensive missive to Mr. Trump but rather has the complete opposite effect. In fact, as far as I am concerned, the levity with which she treats the issue of her Mexican “Narco Family” quite simply reinforces the cultural archetype which she herself claims to be a racist stereotype. Furthermore, it begs the question as to the precise nature of the “goodies” she claims her father is bringing from the “motherland”. In any case, it does not support her point at all. Shame on her, and shame on the over 320,000 Facebook users who blindly – and quite hypocritically I assure you – sided with her. If you think, even for an instant, that out of the 320,000+ Facebook users who supported Miss Almanza, that I am the only one who noticed those images on her wall, you are terribly naïve. I am certain that the vast majority did, and that the vast majority simply were not perturbed by them. That is the degree to which narcocultura and the Narcorrevolución has taken hold of Hispanic culture – and it reflects the values for which it stands.

I am reminded of the statistic: 3 out of every 10 young Latinos say they have a friend or relative who is a current or former gang member[lxxxix].

And yet, would narcocultura have taken over Mexican culture if “narcoadicción” – narco-addiction – not overtaken American culture? Not likely:

In 2005 it was estimated that there are 19.7 million habitual drug users in the United States, approximately 8.1% of the population 12 years old or older “spending by most conservative estimates over $60 billion dollars annually in a diverse and fragmented criminal market.” This figure is slightly up from the 19.1 million or 7.9% of the population 12 years old or older estimates from 2004.  To put this consumption in global terms, it is estimated that approximately 200 million people use illicit drugs habitually worldwide, which means that the United States with less than 5% of the world’s population has approximately 10% of the habitual illicit drug users.[xc] (Mandated Report, p. 334.)

Indeed, as the facts demonstrate, the perversions of the culture of demand have contributed to pervert the culture of supply – hence, in America, “the chickens have indeed come home to roost”.

No matter what Miss Almanza or her supporters might say, I am not a racist. The idea is quite ridiculous actually. I am just an honest realist who deals primarily with facts. One of the advantages of being multiracial and truly multicultural is that I can maintain a healthy degree of “cultural objectivity” where others either fear to tread, foolishly venture, or are overtaken by cultural pride or prejudice. Minorities, especially visible minorities, have and continue to suffer racial prejudice in this country. It is by no means a level playing field. The statistics confirm, for example, that Blacks are more likely to receive police scrutiny than Whites; are more likely to suffer violent treatment from police than Whites; and are more likely to receive harsher academic and judicial punishments than Whites for identical infractions. One out of every three African American males can expect to go to prison some time in his life. These, and many more, are all issues I address in my series “Chronicles of a Perfect Storm”.

Nevertheless, racism has become, for all too many Hispanics and African Americans alike, an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for any number of the iniquitous behaviors common to their respective communities. It has also instilled in many a sense of entitlement – as if they were owed something special by White society at large. These are the very same attitudes my friend the Mexican political activist demonstrates by insisting on blaming the US for all the evils befalling his country, while at the same time taking no responsibility for his own culture’s contribution to his nation’s perennial ruin. It is a Third World mentality that is ever-increasingly present in what’s left of our First World nation.

Nowhere is this sense of entitlement more evident than in a recent comment Mexican-American reporter Jorge Ramos published (in Spanish) regarding Mr. Trump’s speech. Concluding that without the Latino vote no candidate to the US Presidency has a chance, Mr. Ramos states:
But if Trump thought that his biased statements were going to get votes, he was wrong. To the contrary, he has already lost the Latino vote and, therefore, the White House. [Mr. Trump] You're fired.[xci]

Certainly, if what Jorge Ramos is suggesting is true, i.e., that any candidate who wishes to enter the White House must receive approval from the likes of Miss Almanza, her  Mexican “Narco Family”, and her 320,000+ supporters, then Marcola is correct not only about Brazil, not only about Latin America at large, but about the US as well. Not only are we truly in hell, but I take it back – there is no hope. If Ramos and those who subscribe to his form of demagogic populism have their way, then what my Mexican political activist friend stated about Mexico will inevitably become true of America: “By way of the Narcorrevolución” politicians “at all levels of government” will indeed be “supported by drug traffickers to gain power.”

So, what else do the American people need to know? In other words, what reason is there for your average American to take up his or her time, money, and shelf space to acquire and read my series, “Chronicles of a Perfect Storm”? The reason is this: I am not some slick politician telling you what he knows you want to hear to get your vote. I am going to tell you what you NEED to hear to take informed action. I will inform you of the severity, the nature, and the scope of the problem and I will provide you with the tools to make the invisible truly visible, so that you may see the truth for yourselves. (That is, those of you not so blinded by your own ideologies and beliefs.) Not only will I explain the causes of this crisis, as well as the consequences should you choose to remain as obdurate regarding the need for change as our southern neighbors, but I will also tell you what needs to be done, what you the average American citizen can do in order to help alter the disastrous course upon which American society is embarked, and to do so to the benefit of all parties involved, both within the United States as well as south of the US-Mexican border. Above all else, be prepared to hear what you’ve never been told: be prepared to hear the truth about yourselves.

Now, America, the only real question that remains is this: can you handle the truth?

Sincerely,

Shodai Sennin J. A. Overton-Guerra




[i] In my work entitled “Chronicles of a Perfect Storm: Biopsychocultural Philosophy, The Narcorrevolución, and the International Crisis of the Hispanic World”, available on amazon.com fall 2015.
[ii] “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013 Current Population Reports”, by Carmen DeNavas-Walt and Bernadette D. Proctor, Issued September 2014, U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/demo/p60-249.pdf. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[iii] “Latino Academic Achievement Gap Persists”, by Martha Mendoza, December 12, 2013, Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/latino-achievement-gap_n_4492908.html. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[iv] “Latino Academic Achievement Gap Persists”, by Martha Mendoza, December 12, 2013, Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/latino-achievement-gap_n_4492908.html. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[v] National Gang Center. National Youth Gang Survey Analysis, by the US Department of Justice. http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/survey-analysis/demographics. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[vi] “Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Como of Age in America”, Pew Research Center, A Pew Hispanic Center Report, Updated Edition, July 1, 2013,  http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/reports/117.pdf. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[vii] “Teen Pregnancy Graphics Data Descriptions”, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 9, 2014, http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/longdescriptors.htm. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[viii] “Drug cartels in U.S. as big a threat as terrorism”, by Sylvia Longmire, December 9, 2010, CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/09/longmire.mexico.drug.war/. Accessed 29 December, 2014.
[ix] “Latin America Is World's Most Violent Region”, por David Luhnow, The Wall Street Journal, updated April 11 2014, http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303603904579495863883782316. Accessed November 18, 2014.
[x] “Latin America Scores Lowest on Security”, por Jan Sonnenschein, Gallup, 19 de Agosto de 2014, http://www.gallup.com/poll/175082/latin-america-scores-lowest-security.aspx. Accessed November 19, 2014.
[xi] “México vive la peor crisis de violencia desde la Revolución: 22 mil desapariciones forzadas, miles de casos de tortura, más de 70 mil ejecuciones extrajudiciales y más de 160 mil desplazados forzados” por La Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH), ante la Asamblea de Estados Parte del Estatuto de Roma que crea la Corte Penal Internacional [CPI], en el marco del 13º Periodo de Sesiones, December 16, 2014, http://cmdpdh.org/2014/12/mexico-vive-la-peor-crisis-de-violencia-desde-la-revolucion-22-mil-desapariciones-forzadas-miles-de-casos-de-tortura-mas-de-70-mil-ejecuciones-extrajudiciales-y-mas-de-160-mil-desplazados-forzados/. Accessed December 17, 2014.
[xii] “Latin America and the Caribbean adopt a common roadmap to address new displacement trends and end statelessness within the next decade”, Notificación de Prensa, 3 December 2014, UNHCR, http://www.unhcr.org/547f31d59.html. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xiii] “Violencia genera desplazamientos masivos en América Latina” por Forbes Staff, 12 December 2014, Revista Forbes México, http://www.forbes.com.mx/violencia-genera-desplazamientos-masivos-en-america-latina/. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xiv] “Daniel's journey: How thousands of children are creating a crisis in America” por Moni Basu, el 19 de junio del 2014, CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/13/us/immigration-undocumented-children-explainer/. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xv] “The Children of the Drug Wars. A Refugee Crisis, Not an Immigration Crisis” por Sonia Nazario el 11 de julio de 2014, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/opinion/sunday/a-refugee-crisis-not-an-immigration-crisis.html?_r=0. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xvi] “The Central American Child Refugee Crisis: Made in U.S.A.” por Alexander Main, 30 de julio de 2014, Dissent, http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/the-central-american-child-refugee-crisis-made-in-u-s-a. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xvii] “The Deadly, Invisible Borders Inside El Salvador” por Óscar Martínez, 12 de agosto de 2014, New Republic, http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119027/border-crisis-what-refugees-are-escaping-central-america. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xviii] “Here's How The U.S. Sparked A Refugee Crisis On The Border, In 8 Simple Steps” by Roque Planas y Ryan Grim, July 18, 2014, Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/refugee-crisis-border_n_5596125.html. Accessed  December 15, 2014.
[xix] “Blowback on the Border: America’s Child Refugee Crisis”, by Laura Carlsen, July 18, 2014, Foreign Policy in Focus, http://fpif.org/blowback-border-americas-child-refugee-crisis/. Accessed 15 December 2014.
[xx] “The child migrant crisis is just the latest disastrous consequence of America’s drug war” by Ted Galen Carpenter, July 21, 2014, The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/07/21/the-child-migrant-crisis-is-just-the-latest-disastrous-consequence-of-americas-drug-war/. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xxi] “ENTREVISTA-Violencia por drogas, cambio climático crean incesante ola de refugiados latinoamericanos”, by Anastasia Moloney, December 12, 2014, Agencia Reuters, http://lta.reuters.com/article/topNews/idLTAKBN0JQ1UT20141212?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xxii] “ENTREVISTA-Violencia por drogas, cambio climático crean incesante ola de refugiados latinoamericanos”, by Anastasia Moloney, 12 December 2014, Agencia Reuters, http://lta.reuters.com/article/topNews/idLTAKBN0JQ1UT20141212?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true. Accessed December 15, 2014.
[xxiv] “American History from Revolution to Reconstruction and Beyond”, “The Letters of Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826”, http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/thomas-jefferson/letters-of-thomas-jefferson/jefl224.php. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[xxv] “Las tramas de corrupción golpean la imagen de la clase política”, por J.D., 8 de diciembre, 2014, http://www.expansion.com/noticias/corrupcion-politica.html. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxvi] “Corrupción Política”, digital portal of El País to a host of articles on Spanish political corruption, http://elpais.com/tag/corrupcion_politica/a/, December 9, 2014; accessed same day.
[xxvii] “Anexo: Supuestos casos de corrupción política en España”, http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Supuestos_casos_de_corrupci%C3%B3n_pol%C3%ADtica_en_Espa%C3%B1a. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxviii] “La imagen de la familia real española empañada por escándalo de corrupción”, La Nación Mundo, February 7, 2014, http://www.nacion.com/mundo/familia-espanola-empanada-escandalo-corrupcion_0_1395260553.html. Accessed November 19, 2014.
[xxix] “Narcoestado: Chávez, el capo de los capos”, by Ludmila Vinogradoff (ABC corresponsal in Caracas), jueves 26 de abril, 2012 (El País), http://www.reportero24.com/2012/05/narcoestado-chavez-el-capo-de-los-capos/. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxx] “Venezuela: de petroestado fallido a narcoestado emergente”, by Gustavo Coronel, blog “Las Armas de Coronel”, Thursday, September 26, 2013, http://lasarmasdecoronel.blogspot.mx/2013/09/venezuela-del-petroestado-fallido-al.html. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxxi] “Narcoestado: hecho en socialismo”, por Orian Brito Peña, El Universal, September 28, 2013,  http://www.eluniversal.com/opinion/130928/narcoestado-hecho-en-socialismo. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxxii] “Walid Makled dice que Venezuela es un ‘narcoestado’”, por EFE, Semana, 4 de abril, 2011 http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/walid-makled-dice-venezuela-narcoestado/237879-3. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxxiii] “¿Es Venezuela un narcoestado?”, by Carlos Sánchez Berzain, El Nacional, August 3, 2014  http://www.el-nacional.com/opinion/Venezuela-narcoestado_0_457154338.html. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxxiv] “Drug cartels tighten grip; Mexico becoming 'narco-state'”, by Chris Hawley, AZ Central, February 7, 2010. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/02/07/20100207mexico-lawlessness.html. Accessed December 8, 2014. 
[xxxv] “De Michoacán a Guerrero, el Narco Estado”, by José Gil Olmos, Proceso, October 22, 2014. http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=385464. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxxvi] “Conmoción mexicana”, por Gustavo Esteva, Digital Global, 6 de diciembre, 2014. https://www.diagonalperiodico.net/global/24922-conmocion-mexicana.html Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxxvii] “México es peor que un narcoestado, es una mafiocracia”, por Paula Mónaco, El Telégrafo, 3 de noviembre 2014.  http://www.telegrafo.com.ec/mundo/item/mexico-es-peor-que-un-narcoestado-es-una-mafiocracia.html. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxxviii] “México vive un ‘narco-estado’, dice diputado por primera vez en San Lázaro”, por Jesusa Cervantes, Proceso, October 7, 2014. http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=384134. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xxxix] “El que calla otorga: Diputados federales guardan silencio cuando se menciona que México vive un narco-estado”, Radio Zitácuaro, October 8, 2014. http://www.radiozitacuaro.com/nacionales/el-que-calla-otorga-diputados-federales-gurdan-silencio-cuando-se-menciona-que-mexico-vive-un-narco-estado/ Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xl] “México vive un narco-estado. Diputados coinciden”, El Mañana, October 8, 2014, http://elmanana.com.mx/noticia/46386/Mexico-vive-un-narcoestado.html. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xli] “El cartel narco-religioso” por Miguel Rodríguez Casellas, Revista Cruce, October 10 , 2011, http://www.revistacruce.com/politica-sociedad/el-cartel-narco-religioso.html. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xlii] “Vamos en esa ruta - La Isla parece cumplir con 12 de los 15 atributos del ‘narcopaís’”, El Nuevo Día, December 12, 2011, http://www.elnuevodia.com/vamosenesaruta-1141642.html. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xliii] “Droga y política: Puerto Rico como narcoestado” by  Pepe-Jaiba, El Jaiba, October 11, 2011.  http://www.eljaiba.com/1381/droga-y-politica-puerto-rico-como-narcoestado/. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xliv] Miguel Pereira: “Puerto Rico es un narcoestado”, Primera Hora, October 31, 2011, http://www.primerahora.com/noticias/policia-tribunales/nota/miguelpereirapuertoricoesunnarcoestado-573493/. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xlv] “Puerto Rico is a Narco State” por Aurelys Cotto, Interamerican University Of Puerto Rico, 24 de mayo 2014, https://www.academia.edu/2965531/Puerto_Rico_is_a_Narco_State.  Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xlvi] “Is Puerto Rico becoming a narco-state?”, por  Elyssa Pachico, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 de diciembre 2011, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2011/1216/Is-Puerto-Rico-becoming-a-narco-state. Accessed December 8, 2014. 
[xlvii]“Haley Cohen: Argentina, the new narco state”, por Haley Cohen, Twin Cities Pioneer Press, 29 de abril, 2012. http://www.twincities.com/ci_20510865/haley-cohen-argentina-new-narco-state. Also published in Foreign Policy on April 19, 2012 as “The New Narco State. Mexico's drug war is turning Argentina into the new Wild West of the global narcotics trade”, http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/04/19/the-new-narco-state/Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xlviii] "Si no reaccionamos, Argentina se convierte en un narco-Estado", La Capital, November 10, 2014. http://www.lacapital.com.ar/politica/Si-no-reaccionamos-Argentina-se-convierte-en-un-narco-Estado-20141110-0007.html.  Accessed December 8, 2014.
[xlix] “Ante el riesgo de ser un narco-Estado” por Eugenio Burzaco, La Nación, October 22, 2014. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1737472-ante-el-riesgo-de-ser-un-narco-estado. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[l] “Once Just a Stopover for Drug Traffickers, Argentina Has Now Become a Destination”, by Emily Schall, The New York Times, July 7, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/world/americas/for-drug-traffickers-argentina-has-become-a-destination.html?_r=0. Accessed December 8, 2014. 
[li] “Mexican Narcos Dominate Bolivia”, by Havana Pura, Borderland Beat, 23 November 2012, http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/11/mexican-narcos-dominate-bolivia.html. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[lii] “Informes de inteligencia describen a Bolivia como un 'Narcoestado'” by Gerardo Reyes, Univisión, September 7, 2011, http://noticias.univision.com/article/614158/2011-09-07/univision-investiga/investigaciones/informes-inteligencia-describen-bolivia-narcoestado. Accessed December 8, 2014. 
[liii] “Bolivia’s Narco State Now Out in the Open” por Roberto Ortiz, Blog of the Panam Post, 27 October de 2014, http://blog.panampost.com/roberto-ortiz/2014/10/27/bolivias-narco-state-now-out-in-the-open/. Para la versión del mismo artículo en castellano: http://esblog.panampost.com/roberto-ortiz/2014/10/17/bolivia-reafirma-su-imagen-internacional-de-narcoestado/. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[liv] “¿Será Bolivia el próximo Afganistán? El país andino es un centro para el crimen organizado y un refugio para los terroristas” by Mary Anastasia O’Grady, Wall Street Journal, October 28, 2013, http://lat.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303471004579162272803295980?tesla=y&mod=WSJS_inicio_MiddleTop&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303471004579162272803295980.html?mod=WSJS_inicio_MiddleTop. Accessed December 8, 2014.  
[lv] “Advierten que Perú podría ser un narcoestado como en México”, RPP Política, July 2, 2012, http://www.rpp.com.pe/2012-07-02-advierten-que-peru-podria-ser-un-narcoestado-como-en-mexico-noticia_497543.html. Accessed December 8, 2014. 
[lvi] “In No. 1 cocaine-producer Peru, narco candidates are tainting nationwide elections”, Associated Press with contributions by Carlos Neyra, Fox News, October 4, 2014, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/10/04/in-no-1-cocaine-producer-peru-narco-candidates-are-tainting-nationwide/. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[lvii] “A Parade of Narco-Tied Politicians Are Winning Elections in Peru” por Lali Houghton, Vice News, 21 October de 2014, https://news.vice.com/article/a-parade-of-narco-tied-politicians-are-winning-elections-in-peru. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[lviii] “Are Northern Triangle Countries 'Narco-States'?” por Marguerite Cawley, August 20, 2013, Insight Crime – Organized Crime in the Americas, http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/northern-triangle-countries-dangerously-close-to-becoming-narco-states. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lix] “Disgrace of the Narco State” by Jeremy Corbyn, November 20, 2014, Morning Star http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-7cd8-Disgrace-of-the-narco-state#.VIcmMzHQqm4. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lx] “Will elections in El Salvador create a narcostate?” by Roger F. Noriega, American Enterprise Institute, February 24, 2014,  http://www.aei.org/publication/will-elections-in-el-salvador-create-a-narcostate/. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxi] “Honduras Worried About Becoming Narco-State”, by Thelma Mejía, October 22, 2010, Inter Press Service News Agency, http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/10/honduras-worried-about-becoming-narco-state/. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxii] “Honduras: The Bloodiest Nation In The World” by Palash Ghosh, June 1, 2012, International Business Times, http://www.ibtimes.com/honduras-bloodiest-nation-world-705532. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxiii] “Honduras: A Mission Gone Wrong” por Mattathias Schwartz, December 31, 2013, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/central-america-honduras-war-drugs-narco-traffic. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxiv] “Gautemala: A Narco State?” by Lucia Newman, August 14, 2011, Al Jazeera,  http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/americas/guatemala-narco-state. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxv] “Is Guatemala Becoming a Narco State?” by Geoffrey Ramsey, May 31 2011, The Christian Science Monitor, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2011/0531/Is-Guatemala-becoming-a-narco-state. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxvi] “Guatemala becomes killing field as drug wars spread through Central America” por Rory Carroll, 28 de junio de 2011, The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/28/guatemala-town-mexico-narco-wars. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxvii] “How Narco States Work” por Josh Clark, 20 de enero de 2009, HowStuffWorks.com,   http://money.howstuffworks.com/narco-state4.htm. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxviii] “Una ola de violencia entre narcos sacude a Costa Rica” por Álvaro Murillo, 2 December 2014, El País, http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2014/12/02/actualidad/1417556282_771707.html. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxix] “Is Costa Rica The New Narco-State?”, The Costarican Times, November 1, 2014, http://www.costaricantimes.com/is-costa-rica-the-new-narco-state/24090. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxx] “World Drug Report 2010”, by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “The wholesale price in Spain was significantly lower than the average in Europe, possibly reflecting Spain’s role as a major point of entry for cocaine into the European market.”, page 170, http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/World_Drug_Report_2010_lo-res.pdf. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxi] “Spain is drug gateway to Europe”, April 24, 2013, EuroWeekly News, https://www.euroweeklynews.com/news/spanish-news/item/114060-spain-is-drug-gateway-to-europe. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxii] “Mexican Drug Cartels Eye Spain As Their New Home” by Louis Nevaer, February 21, 2013, New America Media, http://newamericamedia.org/2013/02/mexican-drug-cartels-eye-spain-as-their-new-home.php. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxiii] “Ruthless, rich and bloody: now Europe's most vicious drug lords target Britain”, por Tony Thompson y Giles Tremlett, June 12, 2005, The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jun/12/internationalnews. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxiv] “Spain fights to lose status as drug gateway to Europe” por Agence France-Presse, April 23, 2013, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/spain-fights-to-lose-status-as-drug-gateway-to-europe/. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxv] “Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program”, Declassification Revisions December 3, 2014, http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/12/09/sscistudy1.pdf. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[lxxvi] “How a tiny West African country became the world's first narco state” by Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, March 9, 2008, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/09/drugstrade. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxvii] “En el corazón del 'narcoestado'” by Francesca Relea, June 28, 2009, El País, http://elpais.com/diario/2009/06/28/domingo/1246161153_850215.html. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxviii] “A Surge In Cocaine Trafficking Has Turned Guinea Into West Africa's Latest Drug Hot Spot” by David Lewis, January 31, 2014, Business Insider, http://www.businessinsider.com/guinea-is-africas-first-narco-state-2014-1. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxix] “TSG IntelBrief: Guinea-Bissau: The World’s First Narco-State” por The Soufan Group, September 18, 2013, Intelbrief, http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-guinea-bissau-the-worlds-first-narco-state/. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxx] “Guinea Bissau: Africa’s first narcostate” by Loro Horta, October 2007, African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/guinbisauhorta.html. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxxi] “Guinea-Bissau: In Need Of A State” by International Crisis Group, July 2, 2008, http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/africa/west-africa/guinea-bissau/Guinea-Bissau%20In%20Need%20of%20a%20State.pdf. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxxii] “Narco-States: Africa's Next Menace” by Davin O'regan”, March 12, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/opinion/narco-states-africas-next-menace.html?_r=0. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxxiii] “New drug threat to West Africa, warns president of Guinea” by Colin Freeman, June 15, 2013, The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/guinea/10121817/New-drug-threat-to-West-Africa-warns-president-of-Guinea.html. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxxiv] “Is democracy under threat in West Africa?” by Lansana Gberie, Agosto de 2012, African Renewal Online, http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-2012/democracy-under-threat-west-africa. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxxv] “Transnational Crime in West Africa: A Threat Assessment” by United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime, February 2013, http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tocta/West_Africa_TOCTA_2013_EN.pdf. Accessed December 9, 2014.
[lxxxvii] Escalofriante entrevista a un capo de la droga brasileño, by “Red O Globo Brasil”, redacted April, 2012.  http://www.datos-bo.com/Mundo/Actualidad/Escalofriante-entrevista-a-un-capo-de-la-droga-brasileno. Last accessed June 22, 2015.

[lxxxix] “Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Como of Age in America”, Pew Research Center, A Pew Hispanic Center Report, Updated Edition, July 1, 2013,  http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/reports/117.pdf. Accessed December 29, 2014.
[xc] Mandated Report”, by Shodai Sennin J. A. Overton-Guerra, MAMBA RYU Publications, 2012.

[xci] “Jorge Ramos: Trump(etazos)” by Jorge Ramos  Avalos, June 22, 2015, Univision. http://noticias.univision.com/article/2376542/2015-06-22/impresiones/jorge-ramos-trumpetazos?cmpid=444222&hootPostID=7da49fccf7634b123950968c4941b22f . Accessed June 22, 2015.