Mexican Gangster |best| -

As the sun sets over the Sierra Madre, a new convoy of black SUVs rolls down the highway. Inside, a 19-year-old with a diamond-encrusted Rolex checks his Instagram. He just decapitated a rival. He is also sending $200 to his grandmother for her diabetes medicine.

In 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderón launched a military crackdown on organized crime, which became known as the "War on Drugs." The war was aimed at dismantling the country's powerful cartels, but it ultimately led to a surge in violence and instability. The conflict has claimed over 200,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands more. mexican gangster

Why do young men aspire to be a Mexican gangster? The answer lies in the cultura de la narco . As the sun sets over the Sierra Madre,

"Look at the shoes," says former cartel operative turned community activist, "El Chacal" (The Jackal), who now hides his identity behind a ski mask while speaking at youth centers. "A real Mexican gangster wears $2,000 ostrich-skin boots. Why? Because his father walked barefoot. The violence is not the goal. The violence is the tool to never be poor again." He is also sending $200 to his grandmother

To be a Mexican gangster today is to live a short, violent, and profitable life. The average sicario survives less than 24 months from the date of recruitment. They die in drainage ditches, unmourned, or they end up in maximum security prisons like El Altiplano, from which escape is now statistically impossible.

The rise of major organizations began in the mid-20th century. While groups like the (La eMe) were born within the California prison system to protect inmates, they quickly evolved into powerful criminal enterprises that controlled drug trafficking and street-level activities.

The "Mexican gangster" is not an alien invader in Mexican society; he is a symptom of it. He exists because of income inequality, the global War on Drugs, and porous borders. He is the logical conclusion of a black market left unchecked for forty years.