The political trajectory of urban violence in the Americas: the case of Michoacán, Mexico

Contrary to the ‘narco-centric’ explanation of homicidal violence in Mexico, this paper proposes ‘the political trajectory of urban violence’ (PTUV) as an additional category to nuance the developmental process of today´s lethal violence in Mexico, and possibly in Latin America altogether. This paper argues that organised crime-related violence in Mexican cities today has unveiled –and exacerbated– intricate power tensions among private actors –both illegal and, perhaps more importantly, legal ones– which need to be explored by considering the historical evolution of these political processes within a given urban context. The PTUV, then, regards recent organised crime-related violence as part of a continuum of the socio-political complex in urban environments, and not only due to criminal conduct or activity per se. Because a concrete case study is central to advance on this research, the article posits that repeated outbreaks of homicidal violence in the city of Apatzingán, Michoacán, have been the result of a rooted local conflict over land access, economic hegemony and political dominance.