The Mexican Cartels´ employment of Inform and Influence Activities (IIA) as tools of asymmetrical warfare

The Mexican Drug War is one of the most violent asymmetrical conflicts currently experienced in the Western Hemisphere. Several drug Cartels, fuelled by the multi-million dollar drug trade, have battled among themselves and against the state generating thousands of casualties across the country. It is estimated that between 2006 and 2013, there have been approximately 120,000 casualties including both combatants and civilians caught in the crossfire as well as victims from other types of Cartel organized violence. Indeed, the conflict itself has able to reach all operating environments across the country including large demographic centres, rural regions and littoral areas. However, this conflict is also being aggressively fought in the information and cognitive domains, where the Cartels as asymmetrical entities, have sought to shape the attitudes, perceptions and behaviour of target populations. Undeniably, these violent non-state actors have developed comprehensive Inform and Influence Activities (IIA) strategies that seek to gather support from civilians and coerce vulnerable government institutions while at the same time weakening the resolve of their opponents. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the Mexican Cartels have developed and employed IIA as a tool to achieve political and military objectives. In order to achieve this, the paper will examine the different approaches used by the Cartels which include the use of “off the shelf” software applications, multi-media, traditional messaging techniques as well as information denial tactics. Ultimately, it will be recommended that the Government of Mexico, its security forces and other international stakeholders start developing their own IIA campaign in order to counteract the ongoing Cartels´ activities.