"They cannot take my husband": Forced Disappearance and Forced Internal Displacement in the Context of the War Against Drug Trafficking in Michoacan

This paper offers a reflection on the relationship that has been established in Mexico between forced disappearance and forced internal displacement. These victimizing facts are usually studied separately, both in the legal and academic fields, with the aim of highlighting grievances. However, seven years of research on the drug war, related violence, and Human Rights violations in Mexico, has allowed me to observe that the grievances, caused by forced disappearance and forced internal displacement, are experienced by the survivors in a continues flux. Under this logic, I use the extended case method to present how forced disappearance has been a tool to strip away agricultural avocado and red fruit producers from their plots in the state of Michoacan, and the last consequence has been gradual process of forced internal displacements.