Gema Kloppe-Santamaría

A la luz de las antorchas brillan los machetes, se ve algún palo y quizás un garrote, aparecen piedras y sogas, se improvisa un cadalso: la multitud enardecida se cierne sobre un presunto criminal, una maestra de escuela o esa bruja que hasta hace poco no era más que la curandera del pueblo. El linchamiento es la máxima expresión de eso que llamamos justicia por propia mano. En este libro, Gema Kloppe-Santamaría desmenuza un fenómeno que por mucho tiempo se consideró anómalo o episódico, mero… Show more

A la luz de las antorchas brillan los machetes, se ve algún palo y quizás un garrote, aparecen piedras y sogas, se improvisa un cadalso: la multitud enardecida se cierne sobre un presunto criminal, una maestra de escuela o esa bruja que hasta hace poco no era más que la curandera del pueblo. El linchamiento es la máxima expresión de eso que llamamos justicia por propia mano. En este libro, Gema Kloppe-Santamaría desmenuza un fenómeno que por mucho tiempo se consideró anómalo o episódico, mero atavismo de sociedades incivilizadas y supersticiosas, pero que visto de otra manera permite entender algunos de los procesos políticos que moldearon al México del siglo XX. Show less

Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el impacto que el ámbito regional tuvo en la manera en la que las personas vivieron los discursos, las prácticas y los conflictos que caracterizaron el periodo de la larga Guerra Fría en México. El artículo se centra en la historia regional de Puebla, un estado marcado por la prevalencia de ideologías anticomunistas y conservadoras, así como por una relación estrecha entre la iglesia católica, la élite económica y los grupos políticos dominantes. Con… Show more

Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el impacto que el ámbito regional tuvo en la manera en la que las personas vivieron los discursos, las prácticas y los conflictos que caracterizaron el periodo de la larga Guerra Fría en México. El artículo se centra en la historia regional de Puebla, un estado marcado por la prevalencia de ideologías anticomunistas y conservadoras, así como por una relación estrecha entre la iglesia católica, la élite económica y los grupos políticos dominantes. Con base en literatura secundaria y el análisis de fuentes archivísticas y publicaciones periódicas correspondientes al periodo de 1930 a 1979, el artículo busca ir más allá de una visión que subsume la historia de la Guerra Fría en el país dentro del juego de fuerzas protagonizado por las dos grandes potencias —Unión Soviética y Estados Unidos— y subrayar la importancia de lo local en las ideas y prácticas que definieron este periodo. Show less

The aim of this policy commentary is two-fold. First, to examine new historical research regarding the political, cultural, and social drivers informing the design and implementation of Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’ – a set of state policies centered on punitive and militarized responses towards the drug problem – during the first and second halves of the twentieth-century. Second, to analyze how the longer history of Mexico’s war on drugs can help us better understand this country’s enduring… Show more

The aim of this policy commentary is two-fold. First, to examine new historical research regarding the political, cultural, and social drivers informing the design and implementation of Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’ – a set of state policies centered on punitive and militarized responses towards the drug problem – during the first and second halves of the twentieth-century. Second, to analyze how the longer history of Mexico’s war on drugs can help us better understand this country’s enduring reliance on such punitive and militarized approaches despite the detrimental consequences these had and continue to have on citizens’ wellbeing and on the country’s democratic institutions. Show less

This article examines the role of rumors in the collectivization of violence in twentieth-century Mexico. By focusing on a series of cases of lynching driven by rumors of child theft and the stealing of children’s bodily fluids and organs, the article reveals the hierarchies of credibility that make rumors an effective tool to trigger and escalate violence. The article’s main argument is that rumors become deadly or “weaponized” in the form of lynchings in contexts where anxieties and fears… Show more

This article examines the role of rumors in the collectivization of violence in twentieth-century Mexico. By focusing on a series of cases of lynching driven by rumors of child theft and the stealing of children’s bodily fluids and organs, the article reveals the hierarchies of credibility that make rumors an effective tool to trigger and escalate violence. The article’s main argument is that rumors become deadly or “weaponized” in the form of lynchings in contexts where anxieties and fears regarding processes of modernization and economic exploitation intersect with citizens’ perception of the state as unable or unwilling to provide security and justice. In twentieth-century Mexico, what made rumors vectors of lethal violence was not only a context of collective fear and economic uncertainty, but also their credibility vis-à-vis other forms of knowledge. Such credibility was grounded on citizens’ keen sense of distrust in state authorities and on people’s belief that without recourse to lynching, crimes would go unpunished. Adding to the credibility of these rumors was also the lynched victim’s actual or perceived condition as foreign or external to the community where the lynching took place, a condition that made them more likely to be the subject of rumors involving the extraction and exploitation of local resources. Child-theft rumors occupy a central place in Mexico’s contemporary context of insecurity. This article provides a historical reflection on the connections between hearsay, mob violence, and citizens’ long-term experiences of exploitation, state neglect, and impunity. Show less

Despite the formal end of civil war and armed conflict, Mexico continued to experience significant levels of violence during the 1930s and 1940s. This period has traditionally been associated with the process of pacification, institutionalization, and centralization of power that enabled the consolidation of rule in postrevolutionary Mexico, a process epitomized by the marked national decline in levels of homicide that began during the 1940s and continued during the second half of the 20th… Show more

Despite the formal end of civil war and armed conflict, Mexico continued to experience significant levels of violence during the 1930s and 1940s. This period has traditionally been associated with the process of pacification, institutionalization, and centralization of power that enabled the consolidation of rule in postrevolutionary Mexico, a process epitomized by the marked national decline in levels of homicide that began during the 1940s and continued during the second half of the 20th century. The dynamics of coercion and resistance that characterized state-society relations at the regional and local levels reveal, however, that violence pervaded all aspects of society and that it was perpetrated by a multiplicity of actors. Violence was used as both a means to contest the legitimacy of the postrevolutionary state project as well as an instrument of control and coercion on behalf of political elites and local power brokers. Conversely, violence superseded the realm of traditional politics and constituted a central force shaping Mexican society. Violence against women in the public and private spheres, violence driven by economic interests, and citizens’ attempts to control crime and social transgressions reveal that citizens—and not only state actors—contributed to the reproduction of violence. Although violence in postrevolutionary Mexico was neither centralized nor exercised in a top-down manner, impunity and collusion between criminal and political elements were central in the production and perpetuation of violence both within the state and within civil society. When examined in light of these two decades of the postrevolutionary period, the character and levels of violence in contemporary Mexico appear less as an aberration and more as the latest expression of a longer, though uneven and nonlinear, historical trajectory of decentralized, multifaceted, and multi-actor forms of violence. Show less

This chapter analyzes Mexican and U.S. representations of lynching and extralegal forms of violence taking place on both sides of the border from the 1890s until the 1930s. In particular, it examines how these representations impacted each countries’ understanding of extralegal violence in relation to debates about civilization, modernity, and savagery. Based primarily on the examination of cases of lynching reported by U.S. and Mexican newspaper articles, the essay shows the connections… Show more

This chapter analyzes Mexican and U.S. representations of lynching and extralegal forms of violence taking place on both sides of the border from the 1890s until the 1930s. In particular, it examines how these representations impacted each countries’ understanding of extralegal violence in relation to debates about civilization, modernity, and savagery. Based primarily on the examination of cases of lynching reported by U.S. and Mexican newspaper articles, the essay shows the connections between U.S. and Mexican lynching. It also points at the importance of thinking about this practice from a comparative perspective in order to go beyond parochial or even nationalistic narratives linking this practice to the “inherent” savagery of any given country or people. Show less

In the Vortex of Violence examines the uncharted history of lynching in post-revolutionary Mexico. Based on a collection of previously untapped sources, the book examines why lynching became a persistent practice during a period otherwise characterized by political stability and decreasing levels of violence. It explores how state formation processes, as well as religion, perceptions of crime, and mythical beliefs, contributed to shaping people’s understanding of lynching as a legitimate form… Show more

In the Vortex of Violence examines the uncharted history of lynching in post-revolutionary Mexico. Based on a collection of previously untapped sources, the book examines why lynching became a persistent practice during a period otherwise characterized by political stability and decreasing levels of violence. It explores how state formation processes, as well as religion, perceptions of crime, and mythical beliefs, contributed to shaping people’s understanding of lynching as a legitimate form of justice. Extending the history of lynching beyond the United States, this book offers key insights into the cultural, historical, and political reasons behind the violent phenomenon and its continued practice in Latin America today. Show less

This article analyzes the impact that religion had on the act of lynching and its legitimation in postrevolutionary Mexico. Basing its argument on the examination of several cases of lynching that took place after the religiously motivated Cristero War had ended, the article argues that the profanation of religious objects and precincts revered by Catholics, the propagation of conservative and reactionary ideologies among Catholic believers, and parish priests’ implicit or explicit endorsement… Show more

This article analyzes the impact that religion had on the act of lynching and its legitimation in postrevolutionary Mexico. Basing its argument on the examination of several cases of lynching that took place after the religiously motivated Cristero War had ended, the article argues that the profanation of religious objects and precincts revered by Catholics, the propagation of conservative and reactionary ideologies among Catholic believers, and parish priests’ implicit or explicit endorsement of belligerent forms of Catholic activism all contributed to the perpetuation of lynching from the 1930s through the 1950s. Taking together, these three factors point at the relationship between violence and the material, symbolic, and political dimensions of Catholics’ religious experience in postrevolutionary Mexico. The fact that lynching continued well into the 1940s and 1950s, when Mexican authorities and the Catholic hierarchy reached a closer, even collaborative relationship, shows the modus vivendi between state and Church did not bring an end to religious violence in Mexico. This continuity in lynching also illuminates the centrality that popular – as opposed to official or institutional - strands of Catholicism had in construing the use of violence as a legitimate means to defend religious beliefs and symbols, and protect the social and political orders associated with Catholic religion at the local level. Victims of religiously motivated lynchings included blasphemous and anticlerical individuals, people that endorsed socialist and communist ideas, as well as people that professed Protestant beliefs and practices. Show less

This book is the result of two years of participatory and action-oriented research into dynamics of insecurity and violence in modern-day Mexico. The wide-ranging chapters in this collection offer a serious reflection of an innovative co-construction with residents from some of the most affected communities that resulted in diagnoses of local security challenges and their impacts on individual and collective wellbeing. The book also goes on to present a series of policy proposals that aim to… Show more

This book is the result of two years of participatory and action-oriented research into dynamics of insecurity and violence in modern-day Mexico. The wide-ranging chapters in this collection offer a serious reflection of an innovative co-construction with residents from some of the most affected communities that resulted in diagnoses of local security challenges and their impacts on individual and collective wellbeing. The book also goes on to present a series of policy proposals that aim to curtail the reproduction of violence in its multiple manifestations.The methodological tools and original policy proposals presented here can help to enable a radical rethink of responses to the crisis of insecurity in Mexico and the wider Latin American region. Show less

What are the factors behind citizen support for the use of extralegal violence in Latin America? The prevailing argument is that, in countries overwhelmed by skyrocketing levels of criminal violence, people endorse the use of extralegal violence as a way to cope with insecurity. Other scholars believe that support for extralegal violence is the result of state withdrawal and failure. Few empirical studies, however, have tested any of these arguments. In this article, using regional data from… Show more

What are the factors behind citizen support for the use of extralegal violence in Latin America? The prevailing argument is that, in countries overwhelmed by skyrocketing levels of criminal violence, people endorse the use of extralegal violence as a way to cope with insecurity. Other scholars believe that support for extralegal violence is the result of state withdrawal and failure. Few empirical studies, however, have tested any of these arguments. In this article, using regional data from the 2012 AmericasBarometer, we examine different explanations regarding citizen support for the utilization of extralegal violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. We developed a multi-item scale that gauges support for different forms of extralegal violence across the Americas, and we hypothesize that support for extralegal violence is higher not only in countries with extreme levels of violence but especially in countries in which people distrust the political system. Results indicate that support for extralegal violence is significantly higher in societies characterized by little support for the existing political system. Show less

A number of scholars have analysed lynching in Latin America as a response to the recent upsurge in insecurity and crime in the region. This article turns our attention to historical and deeper socio-political undercurrents behind this practice. Drawing on several cases of lynching that took place in post-revolutionary Puebla, the article argues that, rather than signalling state absence, the occurrence of lynching expressed communities’ reactions towards a state presence that was perceived as… Show more

A number of scholars have analysed lynching in Latin America as a response to the recent upsurge in insecurity and crime in the region. This article turns our attention to historical and deeper socio-political undercurrents behind this practice. Drawing on several cases of lynching that took place in post-revolutionary Puebla, the article argues that, rather than signalling state absence, the occurrence of lynching expressed communities’ reactions towards a state presence that was perceived as intrusive and illegitimate. It furthermore shows that lynchings emulated the brutality and visibility of extralegal forms of violence perpetrated by public officials at the local level. Show less

Largely informed by the Tlatelolco massacre of October 2, 1968, and the profound impact this repression left on the memory and history of the student movement, scholarly accounts have tended to a privileged top-down and state-centered approach to our understanding of student violence. In this chapter I question such an approach by bringing to the fore the many expressions of violence endorsed and perpetrated by students; be it against, or in conjunction with other nonstate actors such as… Show more

Largely informed by the Tlatelolco massacre of October 2, 1968, and the profound impact this repression left on the memory and history of the student movement, scholarly accounts have tended to a privileged top-down and state-centered approach to our understanding of student violence. In this chapter I question such an approach by bringing to the fore the many expressions of violence endorsed and perpetrated by students; be it against, or in conjunction with other nonstate actors such as workers, farmers, and bus drivers. My purpose here is not to deny the importance of state-sponsored violence and the impact it had on students, particularly on those who sympathized with the Left or challenged the status quo. Rather, my aim is to pluralize our understanding of the broad range of competing actors that shaped the organization of violence during these decades. Furthermore, like the other contributors in this volume, I aim at “provincializing” México’s Cold War and the violence it precipitated in the country. I do so by highlighting the particular trajectory of anticommunism and conservatism in Puebla, and its place within poblano (Pueblan) society in the 1960s and 1970s. It is against this regional context, I argue, that we need to analyze both students’ inclinations to resort to violence and poblanos’ apparent tolerance toward the potential repression of students. Show less

Written by distinguished scholars of Latin American history, sociology, anthropology, and political science, the essays in this volume range from Mexico and Argentina to Colombia and Brazil in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, addressing such issues as extralegal violence in Mexico, the myth of indigenous criminality in Guatemala, and governments’ selective blindness to violent crime in Brazil and Jamaica. The authors in this collection examine not only the social construction and… Show more

Written by distinguished scholars of Latin American history, sociology, anthropology, and political science, the essays in this volume range from Mexico and Argentina to Colombia and Brazil in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, addressing such issues as extralegal violence in Mexico, the myth of indigenous criminality in Guatemala, and governments’ selective blindness to violent crime in Brazil and Jamaica. The authors in this collection examine not only the social construction and political visibility of violence and crime in Latin America, but the justifications for them as well. Analytically and historically, these essays show how Latin American citizens have sanctioned criminal and violent practices and incorporated them into social relations, everyday practices, and institutional settings. At the same time, the authors explore the power struggles that inform distinctions between illegitimate versus legitimate violence.

Violence and Crime in Latin America makes a substantive contribution to understanding a key problem facing Latin America today. In its historical depth and ethnographic reach, this original and thought-provoking volume enhances our understanding of crime and violence throughout the Western Hemisphere. Show less

This chapter analyzes U.S.–Latin American relations through the lenses of the dynamics of criminal violence impacting the Latin American region today. Focusing on Mexico and the countries of the northern triangle of Central America, the chapter argues that U.S.-Latin American relations are caught in a vicious cycle that has led to the intensification and geographical diffusion of criminal violence. This vicious cycle, the chapter shows, is driven primarily by the inherent limitations of the… Show more

This chapter analyzes U.S.–Latin American relations through the lenses of the dynamics of criminal violence impacting the Latin American region today. Focusing on Mexico and the countries of the northern triangle of Central America, the chapter argues that U.S.-Latin American relations are caught in a vicious cycle that has led to the intensification and geographical diffusion of criminal violence. This vicious cycle, the chapter shows, is driven primarily by the inherent limitations of the policies and cooperation initiatives formulated by these countries, rather than by a lack of cooperation between the United States and Latin America. Show less