The house of silence: Chinese and Mexicans involved in the illegal opium market and related activities in Guadalajara, Jalisco, from 1917 to 1950

Abstract

Chinese residents of the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, and from other states such as Sinaloa, played a significant role in the consumption, production, distribution, and illegal sale of opium in the period of 1917 to 1950; however, not all activities may be connected with such residents, as Mexicans more closely linked with marijuana were also steadily incorporated not only in the consumption of opium and its derivatives, but also as producers and traffickers. For its part, the anti-Chinese movements launched in Mexico leading to the massacre of Chinese people in the cities of Torreón (1911) and Chihuahua (1916) and spurring fervent racism in much of the country, forced many Chinese to continue their migration to countries such as the United States, with others deciding to stay in Mexico and become invisible at least in public activities, withdrawing from population censuses and even from activities linked to drug trafficking. It was in the 1940s that information provided by the Guadalajara press itself revealed the predominance of Mexican citizens in the market for opium and its derivatives, with the advent of World War II leading to a surge in prices, before a stabilizing with its end.