Is France really in the process of “Mexicanization”?

In terms of drug trafficking, is France facing a risk of « mexicanisation » ? Bruno Retailleau will perhaps have the opportunity to address the subject again this Friday, November 8 in Marseille. The Minister of the Interior must announce various measures against drug trafficking in the company of Didier Migaud, his colleague from justice. Very offensive on this issue, Bruno Retailleau made an impression a week ago in Rennes by using this term. “I can clearly see mini-states, narco-enclaves, on French territory, which are being formed”he added.

This reference is not a first. It has already been two or three years that police officers or magistrates, particularly in Marseille, have been raising this specter of a drift “South American” to describe the most violent methods used in France. “We see real acts of barbarity with members of the opposing clan tortured in cellars or burned alive in car trunks. This is what we see in Mexico where we also often find individuals hanging from lampposts. indicates Michel Gandilhon (1), member of the scientific orientation council of the Observatory of International Crimes (Obsci). “It is a strategy cleverly used by cartels, and now by certain groups in France, in a desire to intimidate and “terrorize” opposing clans,” he adds.

Hired killers recruited younger and younger

France also seems to be taking inspiration from other countries in recruiting younger and younger hitmen. A bit on the model of sicariothese Mexican or Colombian killers sometimes only 15 years old. A phenomenon that the police now see emerging in France. “There is still a small difference with Mexico. There, the young hitmen have a certain affiliation with the cartels that recruit them,” explains Clotilde Champeyrache (2), economist and criminologist at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Cnam). “In France, drug traffickers are increasingly using young people contacted on social networks but most often disconnected from the groups for which they will work. These young people carry out certain missions, but often without knowing anything about the organization or the members of the groups that employ them. »

This specialist notes, however, that these young French hitmen are often immersed in a cultural universe and a “imaginary” very anchored in South American drug trafficking. “Their references are the series Narcos or Pablo Escobar, which provoke a certain fascination, like the film Scarface in another era”, she adds.

30,000 deaths in Mexico linked to drug trafficking each year

But this comparison with Mexico also has its limits. “It is even completely unfounded if we look at the number of homicides,” Underlines Michel Gandilhon. “Every year, there are around 30,000 deaths linked to drug trafficking in Mexico”specifies Clotilde Champeyrache. In France, in the first half of 2024, 42 deaths were recorded linked to traffic and “182 acts of assassination or assassination attempts”specified a police official on France Info in October. “In Mexico, drug traffickers also assassinate judges, journalists and politicians. It is a regime of terror that we do not know, at least for the moment, in France. note Clotilde Champeyrache.

Another major difference concerns the extent of corruption. The phenomenon is certainly not non-existent in France where we see prison guards, clerks, customs officers, dock workers providing some services to these criminals who pay them or threaten them. “But in Mexico, corruption is on a completely different scale. There, for example, more than fifteen governors are either on the run or in prison for their links with the cartels. indicates Michel Gandilhon. Also citing the case of Genaro Garcia Luna, former Minister of the Interior (2006-2012). Less than a month ago, this senior official was sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison for his links with a cartel.

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“Weak but worrying signals”

Jerome Durainsocialist senator and co-chair of the commission of inquiry (3) on the impact of drug trafficking in France

“The comparison with Mexico is certainly excessive, but there are still weak but worrying signals in France. Firstly, we note an expansion of drug trafficking over a large part of the territory. Recently, in Dijon, a magistrate confided to me that beatings and barbaric acts, broadcast on social networks, are now very ordinary. We also see a broad diversification of the criminal activities of drug traffickers, who also operate in the area of ​​extortion, prostitution and human trafficking. Finally, although it remains emerging, the phenomenon of corruption is now a reality in France. »