libro negro (war on drugs)

This piece emerges as an act of memory and social critique in the face of the devastating consequences of the so-called “War on Drugs” in Mexico, begun in 2006. This public policy unleashed a spiral of violence that transformed everyday life and fractured the social fabric. Before the conflict began, the cartels negotiated with the government while the country breathed an air of peace and calm. Unfortunately, like the monster that grows many more heads each time one is cut off, the cartels have multiplied without end. Mexico went from being perceived as a warm, hospitable country to becoming a territory where fear overtook trust and innocence. The black book is a metaphor for the loss of freedom imposed by terror and impunity. The chained book symbolizes not only the state of siege we live in, but also the collective mourning we have been unable to process. Between its pages are brief testimonies from victims, friends, and relatives. The piece aims to denounce what has been systematically ignored: young people forcibly recruited from the poorest communities, bodies disappeared for refusing to collaborate, and all the other people who, directly or indirectly, have died as a result of the conflict between the government and the cartels.