Paternidades narcotraficantes ausentes durante la crianza: experiencias de hijos varones en Culiacán, Sinaloa, México

Purpose: To analyzes how men from Culiacan, Sinaloa, fathers with past involvement in drug trafficking, participate in childrearing after having been absent from their children’s lives in early childhood. Methodological design: Four in-depth interviews were conducted with fathers of different ages, all holding undergraduate degrees, originally from Culiacan, and raised in contexts marked by paternal absence. Results: The findings indicate that fathers left the household primarily due to conjugal conflicts with the mother, did not consistently assume provide economic support, and, in most cases, failed to sustain stable affective bonds with their children. As a result, the interviewees turned to other men or family members as parental reference points. Research limitations: The study is limited by the small number of interviews conducted, reflecting the difficulty of locating participants who meet the required profile and were willing to speak and be recorded. In addition, participants may have omitted information for security reasons. The research initially focused on paternal absence; only during the data analysis were some participants identified as children of men involved in drug trafficking. As a result, this aspect was not explored in depth during the data-collection phase. Findings: Overall, the findings suggest that these absent narco-fatherhoods reproduce a traditional form of machismo characterized by emotional detachment and paternal irresponsibility, rather than the cultural ideal of the “honorable man” who provides for and protects his family.