The Illegal Economy and the Organised Crime in the Caribbean Basin: Mexico in the Crossroad?[La economía ilegal y el crimen organizado en la Cuenca del Caribe: ¿México en la encrucijada?]

Recognizing that globalization started when European colonizers arrived in América (establishing the first transatlantic commercial networks), this article discusses how and to what extent this phenomenon is witnessing an important breakpoint, under influence the current battlegrounds of globalization (drugs, weapons, capital and persons). In fact, we will discuss, with the scientific literature in hand, how the weak links between Mexico and the Caribbean during the XIXth century, affected the Caribbean Basin during the XXth century. In particular we will look at how illicit commercial flows lead to a situation of marginality, of opulence and of violence in the Caribbean, with Mexico finding itself in the crossroads of this new global context.