Some thoughts about drug war nomenclature...

As my longtime readers know, I've been using the acronym "DTO" to refer to the major drug trafficking organizations in Mexico since I started this blog in March 2009. The problem is, I can't say that the term DTO is entirely accurate anymore.

I did a presentation a few months ago for US Northern Command, and they use the acronym "TCO" for transnational criminal organizations. Homeland Security Today magazine uses the same one, and for good reason. Organized crime groups in Mexico are engaged in much more than just drug trafficking. They're involved in kidnapping for ransom, extortion, human smuggling, and the sale of pirated goods...and a partridge in a pear tree. The acronym "TCO" more accurately encompasses the wide variety of criminal activities in which groups like Los Zetas and La Familia Michoacana are involved.

So, from now on, I'll be referring to them as TCOs, instead of DTOs.

Another debate I have often with myself - and was actually just interviewed about by the Arizona Daily Star's Brady McCombs - is the use of the word "cartel." He'll be publishing an article about the word as a reference to TCOs here pretty soon, so I don't want to take anything away from that. I will say that TCOs aren't cartels in the pure sense, although they exhibit many characteristics of the traditional Latin American drug cartels. It's the title of my book, so I can't argue with it that much! Just know that TCOs have evolved into something very different than Colombia's cartels of the 1980s. But the use of the term persists in the media and in the public consciousness because people know what you mean when you say, "Mexican drug cartel." Not so much when you say "Mexican TCO."

While I won't be using the term "cartel" in my posts, I acknowledge that it still has meaning when we talk about the situation in Mexico, and it's common enough in today's lexicon to where I don't think it's use will change soon, regardless of how accurate its meaning is. 

Comments

[Anon]

I like TCO more than DTO, for the reasons you've given, and for use by specialists. And as specialists, most of your readers are going to know exactly what you're talking about. But I think "cartel" is better for journalism and mass media, which discourages acronyms for plain, everyday language. Good journalistic writing will strip away a lot of the jargon for accessibility. People know what you mean when you say it, like you said.

[Toni Loftin]

TCO--good choice. Takes the notion of globalization to a whole other level, doesn't it?

[david ronfeldt]

good move. key writer on tcos, using the term and acronym since mid 1990s if not earlier, is phil williams (u. pitt.). check around for his writings. example is:

Phil Williams, “Transnational Criminal Organizations and International Security,” Survival, Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 1994, pp. 96–113.

he also did chapter in our "networks and netwars" volume (rand, 2001).

[Stan Wickham]

So are't we just talking about size, teritorry, and types of crimes. I can understand the largest Cartels be called TCO. But the term MDTO can still be usded for those groups which graduate from Gangs- i,e La linea to small drug organization. The Zeta's when they broke were small..so if the group operates within Mexico can it be a MDTO, a cartel when the deal drugs cross their borders,TCO when they moved into multiple crimes.

[Liam]

I agree with your use of term. I noticed it in the last couple of articles and was going to ask you! Now I don't! I think Stan is right, some of them can be called DTOs, however at the same time I do think even their activities, no matter small, could be considered part of the larger TCO picture since many of those smaller gangs are often just extended arms of the major TCOs. I try and stay away using cartel but I know that a good count of people who view my website don't know a lot about the war, and cartel to them is a good base to srtart, and then if they want to learn more, they'll soon see why cartel isn't really that accurate. Good work Sylvia (as always!!)

[anonymous_hero]

"They're involved in kidnapping for ransom, extortion, human smuggling, and the sale of pirated goods...and a partridge in a pear tree."

We need to legalize kidnapping for ransom, extortion, human smuggling, and the sale of pirated goods and partridges and take the profit motive away from the cartels.