For the second consecutive year, this survey was written under the auspices of Pedro Aspe, former Mexican Minister of Finance, and North American Forum Co-Chair, to serve as a reference document at the Seventh North American Forum (NAF). Also, as in the previous year, Pedro Aspe requested Eduardo Guerrero the elaboration of the survey. NAF is an annual meeting of American, Canadian and Mexican government and business representatives to discuss a broad regional policy agenda that includes security, energy, and economic issues. The Seventh NAF will be held at Washington, DC (October 6-8, 2011).

The survey is composed by five sections. The first one is a diagnosis with two components. The first one is a brief description of Mexico’s security institutions. The survey includes a brief update of the most significant changes on these institutions during the last year, especially a report on the current situation of the police forces. The second component has to do with the present dynamics of Mexican organized crime. Here, the survey provides an account of Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations, including the different criminal activities these organizations perform, their geographic distribution, and the relationships among them. Also, the fragmentation of some of these organizations is described, and a new typology of cartels is included.