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 7 Jan 2020 [In Mexico,] under active conflict & criminal control, basic state functions like gathering crime statistics, let alone searching for disappeared, are impossible. Twitter Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico 6 Jun 2019 Any blow to the Mexican economy will pour oil into the fire of conflict, accentuating reasons for people to flee, and undermining the deterrence effect of President Trump's anti-migratory policy. Twitter Falko Ernst Senior Analyst, Mexico Latest Updates 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 Q&A / Latin America & Caribbean 30 November 2018 Mexico’s New President Squares Up to High Hopes for Peace On 1 December, Andrés Manuel López Obrador will assume Mexico’s presidency. He won pledging to end a drug war that has killed tens of thousands. But, as Crisis Group’s Mexico Senior Analyst Falko Ernst argues, he faces formidable challenges that will make it hard for him to uphold his promises. Also available in Español Our Journeys / Latin America & Caribbean 17 October 2018 The Life and Death of a Mexican Hitman Researching how Mexico can uproot the scourge of organised crime, our Senior Analyst Falko Ernst befriends a doomed hitman on the run from his past. Talking to the sicario in the Michoacán underworld, he learns much about the deadly challenges the new government faces.