Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico Please submit all media inquiries to media@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71 Crisis Group Role Falko joined Crisis Group in July 2018 as Senior Analyst for Mexico. He is responsible for conducting research on the country’s lethal conflict and the challenges the incoming president faces, particularly as concerns the country’s many regional conflict settings and intra-institutional realities that underpin corruption and collusion by state actors. He provides field-based insights and recommendations, through reports and contributions to media, as to how these should be factored to make for sound security policy. Areas of Expertise Non-state armed groups Organised crime Criminal governance Corruption Latin America Mexico Professional Background Falko has worked on criminal governance, organised crime-state-collusion, and new forms of conflict in Mexico and Latin America since 2010. As a PhD researcher in sociology at the University of Essex (UK), he lived in organised crime-controlled communities in Mexico. He went on to become a freelance researcher and author based in Mexico City, collaborating with Crisis Group, the Ford Foundation, the London School of Economics, and national and international media. Prior to this, he worked as a research assistant in Germany’s federal parliament in Berlin, and completed a masters degree in Latin American area studies at the University of Passau, Germany. In The News 1 Jul 2021 The problem in Mexico is still being reduced by most as a turf war between cartels, while it is more of an internal violent conflict. The New Humanitarian Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico 23 Apr 2021 The approach of the current administration to insecurity, to the whole armed conflict [in Aguililla], has been silence. [López Obrador administration's] political calculation is that it’s better not to talk about it. LA Times Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico 8 Dec 2020 Cartels’ brand names fade away eventually. [But] all of those [other] networks stay in place. The Guardian Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico 25 Aug 2020 The impotence of Mexican government security forces has been made particularly evident in the events of the last few months. The New Humanitarian Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico 2 Aug 2020 [The arrest of José Antonio Yépez] is basically a short-lived P.R. victory, but it doesn’t provide a solution. The big worry is that there is no backing in terms of a more cohesive security strategy. The New York Times Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico 13 Jul 2020 While much of the narrative around violence in Mexico focuses on drug trafficking and cartels, the "on-the-ground realities are far more complex. Al Jazeera Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico Latest Updates Commentary / Latin America & Caribbean 7 October 2020 Time to End the Lethal Limbo of the U.S.-Mexican Drug Wars The failure of the “war on drugs” – now a welter of spreading conflicts – is a U.S.-Mexican co-production. Washington should stop pushing Mexico City to throw ever more military force at organised crime. Instead, it should help its southern neighbour find solutions tailored to each locale. Also available in Español Op-Ed / Latin America & Caribbean 25 February 2020 America's appetite for avocados is helping to fuel the Mexican cartels Originally published in Business Insider Q&A / Latin America & Caribbean 22 October 2019 Picking Up the Pieces after Mexico’s Criminal Siege Shocking pictures from Culiacán show a criminal organisation forcing the Mexican state into submission. In this Q&A, Crisis Group Senior Analyst Falko Ernst explains why the mayhem should compel the government to revisit its security paradigm. Also available in Español Our Journeys / Latin America & Caribbean 3 June 2019 Mexico’s Hydra-headed Crime War It may seem that Mexico’s crime war, which has left over 100,000 dead in its wake, could not get any worse. But interviews with gunmen in deadly Tierra Caliente show that it can, as criminal organisations break into smaller and smaller parts, driving up the death toll. Also available in Español Q&A / Latin America & Caribbean 1 February 2019 Mexico’s New Neutrality in the Venezuela Crisis Bucking the U.S. and several large and influential Latin American states, Mexico has not recognised Juan Guaidó’s claim on Venezuela’s presidency, and has instead argued for negotiations to end the country’s crisis. As Crisis Group’s Senior Mexico Analyst Falko Ernst explains, this position is rooted in a new Mexican foreign policy doctrine. Also available in Español Load more