Mexico's Military Transformation

Civilian-military relations in Mexico are currently undergoing a profound transformation. Since Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in 2018, the armed forces have been given an expanded role not only in policing, but also in public works and government agencies previously under civilian control. This lecture will examine the changing role of the armed forces in Mexico, look at how people across the country are organizing to resist violence and militarism, and consider what these changes could mean for the future.

Dawn Marie Paley is a journalist and the author of Drug War Capitalism and Guerra Neoliberal. She's the editor of Ojalá, a new media outlet in English and Spanish dedicated to critical coverage of Latin America. Dawn Marie has a Masters in Journalism from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and a PhD in Sociology from the Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico.

Photo: Murray Bush, Flux Photo.