Broken Topographies: Crisis, Criminal Enframing, and the Migration Genre in Diego Quemada-Díez's La jaula de oro

Migrants, in turn, now commonly run the risk of abduction by sicarios and face death if they refuse to join a criminal organization, a family member in the United States does not pay a ransom, or simply because a rival gang oversees their transportation. The San Fernando massacres, along with other tragedies, are evidence of the ubiquitous collaboration of Mexican authorities with different criminal organizations.1 Since 2007, drug cartels have been allowed to operate to such a degree that they have shaped migration patterns and how Mexico positions itself vis-a-vis its southern neighbors.2 While Mexico has painted itself as a hospitable destination for exiles from political conflicts, the experience of transient Central American populations undermines this country's self-conception as a haven from political violence.3 Here, I analyze Diego Quemada-Díez's 2013 film La jaula de oro (Golden Dreams), which describes the perils that migrants encounter on their path from Central America to the United States. Ultimately, my analysis engages with the idea that the unmoored expansion of market forces, and the technological encompassing of the world, for which Martin Heidegger coined the term enframing, are the main cause for the loss of the common ground of politics. While not thoroughly addressing political contexts nor "push factors" or immigration triggers, this movie's portrayal of the space comprised of North and Central America cannot be understood without the changes in the political and economic cartographies that resulted from the region's integration.