Towards a Human Security Agenda for Mexico
The alarming increase in violence and insecurity levels is one of the most important challenges facing the new Mexican government led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador. This documentary documents the process of Human Security Agenda’s with local communities following a two-year research process (2016-18) carried out in four Mexican cities with severe, albeit distinctive, levels of violence: Acapulco (Guerrero), Apatzingán (Michoacán), Guadalupe (Nuevo León) and Tijuana (Baja California).
The most important finding in this research is that the violence that now sweeps across Mexico cannot be explained exclusively as a result of reorganisations in the criminal world and the race for the exploitation of illegal economies - especially drug-trafficking since 2007. The issues is more complex, with multiple insecurities and types of violence interconnected in a context of growing criminal economies, corruption and impunity. This issues cannot be resolved with a unidimensional security policy. On the contrary, it requires recognising the threats, risks, anxieties and fears that affect personal and collective well-being and rights, and the capacity to exercise and defend such rights.
This project is the result of collaboration among scholars that share a strong commitment with security and violence issues in Latin America. It is based at the Latin American and Caribbean Centre at LSE and at ITAM - Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and CIDE -Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas both in Mexico City.