"In this compelling new study, Professor Avilés moves us beyond the established explanations for the drug war in Latin America. He shows how this war came about through the "grand strategy" of an entrenched transnational policy network to integrate the region into the political economy of global capitalism. A powerful indictment of the prohibitionist paradigm, the work will be of great interest to scholars, journalists, and policymakers. If you want to understand what and who are behind the drug war in Latin America, read this book." - William I. Robinson, University of California in Santa Barbara, USA