Los Zetas Inc.

GUADALUPE CORREA-CABRERA is an associate professor of public affairs and security studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She is the author of Democracy in “Two Mexicos”: Political Institutions in Oaxaca and Nuevo LeÓn and a frequent commentator in national and international news media on drug trafficking issues and drug violence in Mexico.

"Correa-Cabrera’s book approaches the Mexican Drug War through an analysis of the Zetas-the most powerful, well-armed, and technologically-advanced criminal corporation in Mexico. . . . This impressive contribution reveals the horrific realities, complexities, and products of neoliberal capitalism-though it is not so much of a “new” violence as much as an evolution of existing forms of it." (NACLA: The Report on the Americas) "The strength of Correa’s book is that she links security and political economy outcomes in Mexico in a way that is not reductionist. That is, she avoids ascribing the economic outcomes of the Mexican drug war to the logic of neoliberalism or of capitalism more generally, but rather considers the complex political mediations between the calculations of political elites and the expansion of transnational extractive activities in Mexico." (Yerepouni News) "Los Zetas Inc. is a state of the art study of organized crime and drug trafficking studies in Mexico...It is a major book that should be required reading in social sciences classes on contemporary Mexico." (Mexican Studies) "This book is most assuredly a strong contribution…[Correa-Cabrera] develops a fine-grained analysis of what is taking place in Tamaulipas much more thoroughly than anyone before, and the reader can easily appreciate what goes into making what is happening here a security crisis that goes far beyond the state." (The Americas) "Timely…useful for students and scholars interested in Mexico's Drug War, or, more generally, in the relationship between 'development' and the violence that so often accompanies natural resource booms." (Journal of Latin American Studies) "[Correa-Cabrera] not only provides great historical detail on the formation, evolution, and internal organization of the Zetas, but also offers a careful review of Mexico's most recent political and economic reforms, which are deeply related to changes in the criminal organization...the many thought-provoking concepts, analyses, and new forms of evidence Correa-Cabrera presents should push Mexican policymakers and organized crime experts alike to formulate and answer new and urgent questions to better understand, and hopefully help resolve, a reality that has led to the deaths and disappearances of tens of thousands of people across the country." (Latin American Politics and Society) "[Los Zetas Inc.] provides new arguments and fresh perspectives on the already existing works about transnational criminal organisations, how they work, links to energy firms, and paramilitary characteristics of drug cartels in Mexico. The book shows extensive research as well as concrete evidence which demonstrates that Correa-Cabrera’s main aim is to depict Los Zetas as a criminal enterprise that has roots in a business corporation model, and the widespread power a drug cartel can achieve within a country." (Bulletin of Latin American Research)

• List of Maps, Tables, and FiguresAbbreviationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionSection I. The Zetas: Criminal Paramilitaries in a Transnational Business Chapter 1. The Zetas’ OriginsChapter 2. The Zetas’ WarChapter 3. A Transnational Criminal CorporationSection II. Mexico’s Drug War: A Modern Civil War? Chapter 4. Paramilitarization of Organized Crime and a “War on Drugs”Chapter 5. The New Paramilitarism in MexicoChapter 6. Mexico’s Modern Civil WarSection III. Los Zetas Incorporated Chapter 7. The Zetas’ War and Mexico’s Energy SectorChapter 8. Energy and Security in Tamaulipas, Ground Zero for the ZetasChapter 9. Who Benefits from the Zetas’ War?Conclusion. Four Successful Business Models in an Era of Modern Civil WarsAppendix 1. Energy Reform and the Zetas’ Expansion (Timeline)Appendix 2. History of Organized Crime in Tamaulipas: Timeline of Key EventsAppendix 3. Map of Criminal Paramilitaries and Natural Resources in MexicoAppendix 4. El disfraz de la guerra (The War’s Disguise): CommuniquÉ by Residents of La RibereÑaAppendix 5. Organizational Charts: Constellis Holdings, LLC, and Los Zetas Inc.Appendix 6. Areas of Dominant Influence of Major TCOs in Mexico, 2015NotesReferencesIndex