El Narcotraficante: Narcocorridos and the Construction of a Cultural Persona on the U.S.-Mexico BorderSince the late 1970s, a new folk hero has risen to prominence in the U. S. Mexico border region and beyond the narcotrafficker. Celebrated in the narcocorrido, a current form of the traditional border song known as the corrido, narcotraffickers are often portrayed as larger than life "social bandits" who rise from poor or marginalized backgrounds to positions of power and wealth by operating outside the law and by living a life of excess, challenging