A VERY WELL ESTABLISHED CULTURE: COCAINE MARKET SELF-REGULATION AS ALTERNATIVE GOVERNANCE IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

San Juan’s morning paper brings the news that drug traffickers are using exotic animals, such as caimans, serpents, and poisonous toads, to punish chotas, as squealers are called there. Rumor has it that drug lords eliminate their rivals—or rather, their cadavers—by throwing them into caimaninfested waters in poor neighborhoods. The stories are part of San Juan’s urban my thology: drug lords have twisted nature to serve their needs. Puerto Rico’s popular culture also reveals the deep penetration of the drug trade. Hip-hop lyrics denounce politicians like Jorge Santini of the conservative Nuevo Progresista party. As mayor of San