U.S.-trained ex-soldiers aiding drug cartel

By ANGELES NEGRETE LARES
The Brownsville Herald

The Gulf Cartel boasts a rare weapon in the high stakes war for drug-trafficking supremacy: U.S.-trained soldiers.

The Zetas, hired assassins for the Gulf Cartel, feature 31 ex-soldiers once part of an elite division of the Mexican army the Special Air Mobile Force Group. At least one-third of this battalions deserters was trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., according to documents from the Mexican secretary of defense.

They have high-powered weapons, training and intelligence capabilities, said Francisco Castillo Zaragoza, brigadier general at the 8th Military Zone in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

Since 1940, the (Mexican) Armed Forces have sent military personnel and Special Forces to training courses at several academies in the U.S.

According to the defense department, 513 Mexican soldiers in Special Forces were trained at the School of the Americas from 1940 to 2002. About 120 of them joined the Special Air Mobile Force.

There is a higher level of danger with the type of knowledge that these people have their arms capacity, their knowledge of techniques and specialization in (drug) traffic operations," said Luis Astorga, a drug-trade expert at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City. "Traffickers traditionally dont have that; they pay other people for those services.

The 31 ex-soldiers were part of a 350-person elite paratrooper and intelligence battalion posted in Tamaulipas in 1995 to fight drug traffickers. But the Gulf Cartel, led by Osiel Cardenas, recruited them and brought a new level of expertise and firepower to the drug war.

We get mad and embarrassed knowing these kinds of people stain the Mexican army uniform, Castillo said. They served the nation of Mexico and then change drastically, even betraying it.

According to the Mexican attorney generals office, the Zetas were implicated in dozens of shootouts along the Texas-Mexico border. Theyre also suspected in the kidnapping and the execution of several police officers in Matamoros and the rescue of four members of the Gulf Cartel.

They are extremely violent. They are very much feared in the region for the bloodshed they unleash, Jose Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexicos top anti-drug prosecutor, told the Associated Press.

Cardenas arrest in March after a shootout in Matamoros has apparently not weakened the Zetas, who are locked in a bloody battle with rival organizations to retain the Gulf Cartels territory. There have been several alliances between the competing groups in an attempt to weaken the Zetas presence in Tamaulipas.

We see these alliances. It just is proof of the crisis these gangs are going through," Vasconcelos said. There is no one single group strong enough anymore to dominate the territory.

The Zetas name, adopted by Cardenas, was a radio code used by federal police in Tamaulipas during in the 1980s to locate high-ranking commanders.

We knew Zetas existed in Tamaulipas, said a defense department official, who did not want to be identified. He estimates the Zetas are comprised of at least 40 members, most of them ex-soldiers. We know some of them are ex-military deserters and ex-state policemen as well as people with a long history in organized crime.

Mexican officials have arrested 12 Zeta members since 2001, none of them former members of the special paratroop group.

Among the alleged traffickers still free are Oscar El Winnie Guerrero Silva, who federal authorities consider the Gulf Cartel operator in Tamaulipas federal district.

Officials are also searching for Daniel Rojas and Miguel Angel Soto Parra, who are in charge of training their men with weapons, explosives and personal defense.

Violence erupting as cartels wage turf war

By ANGELES NEGRETE LARES
The Brownsville Herald

Drug violence is nothing new to communities along the Texas-Mexico border, where drug trafficking is typically controlled by three major cartels.

But Mexicos increase in murders, kidnappings, jail escapes and shootouts features a new and deadly element: Ex-soldiers from the Mexican army joining the Gulf Cartel, which ships billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs each year to the United States.

The cartel is headed by Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who in 1995 recruited the ex-soldiers now known as the Zetas. And though he has been absent since his arrest March 14 after a shootout in Matamoros, the Zetas violence has prompted fear from rival cartels and millions of others living in Tamaulipas.

They are extremely violent, Jose Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexicos top anti-drug prosecutor, told the Associated Press.They are very much feared in the region because of the bloodshed they unleash.

Before joining the Gulf Cartel, these ex-militaries were commissioned in 1995 by the defense department to fight drug trafficking. Now they train other Zetas in the handling of weapons, explosives and personal defense, according to the Mexican attorney generals office.

CONFRONTATIONS

The Zetas have a clear objective: Defend the Gulf Cartels territory against three rival organizations that that have waged a turf war since Cardenas arrest.

Every confrontation, uprising and execution in Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros were caused by the Zetas, Castillo said. (The cartels are) trying to exterminate the already weak Gulf Cartel.

Turf wars often escalate when drug bosses such as Cardenas are absent, Castillo said.

Several groups similar to the Gulf Cartel are trying to infiltrate into the Tamaulipas area, he said. But because of the Zetas resistance and their training, they have been able to contain the attacks (of the rival cartels).

The other groups include the Sinaloa Cartel, which has hired a group called the Negros to combat the Zetas. The Jalisco Cartel has formed the Chachos, Castillo said.
Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who heads the Sinaloa Cartel, is one of the main cartel leaders still at-large, said officials from the Federal Department of Investigations in Mexico City. Guzman escaped a maximum-security prison in Mexico City two years ago, and is believed to have recuperated control of this cartel in Western Mexico.

The Jalisco Cartel is commanded by Armando Valencia Cornelio, who was arrested in August by the attorney generals special agents in Guadalajara. Despite his absence, Valencias cartel formed the Chachos to battle the Zetas and eliminate the Gulf Cartel.

Much of the this years cartel violence has occurred in Nuevo Laredo, including an Aug. 2 confrontation where a sport-utility vehicle was shot by a bazooka, killing at least three people. On April 2, the bodies of nine men allegedly part of the Chachos were found outside the border town. The men were executed by the Zetas, officials said. About two weeks after Cardenas arrest, a drive-by in front of City Hall left one gunman dead and two others injured.

The list of violence confrontations is lengthy, and there is concern the Zetas and other hitmen might soon bring their war into other parts of Tamaulipas perhaps even to U.S. soil.

Some officials believe its already happened.

On Feb. 5, an assassin fired a single shot into the window of a parked Mercedes-Benz in North McAllen, killing former high-ranking Mexican federal officer Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni. The 54-year-old had close ties to drug kingpins, and some Mexican authorities suspect a Zeta was responsible for the murder.

Dozens of drug-related deaths have occurred since Cardenas arrest, but officials with the attorney generals office in Tamaulipas said the worst is over.

The confrontation area that Nuevo Laredo had turned into during the last three months was a battle with murders, kidnappings and executions, said Ruben Darío, spokesman for the PGR in Tamaulipas. Now Nuevo Laredo and the rest of Tamaulipas is tranquil after two years of violence.

VIOLENCE IN MATAMOROS

Matamoros, which officials believe is home to many of the Zetas, has also had its share of cartel violence. Prior to the street shootout in March that led to Cardenas arrest, the city endured a bloody 2001 marked by kidnappings, executions, rescues of drug dealers and daytime shootouts at state police agencies.

The string of violence started on June 20, 2001, when a group of 25 fully armed men rescued a prisoner at the state police station, located about 10 minutes from the International Veterans Bridge at Los Tomates.

According to the state police in Matamoros, high-power weapons including AK-47, Ar-15, ammunition and a tear grenade were used to rescue Ramon Davila López, a Zeta member.

Davila López was successfully rescued, but three suspected Zeta members were arrested in the process: Hugo Ponce Salazar, 28, ex-city policeman Octavio Garza, and Jose Guadalupe Triana. The three are at a maximum security center in Mexico City along with Cardenas.

The violence returned July 10, 2001, when policeman Gerardo Garzcon Soltero and Jaime Yañez Cantu, commander of the state police, were murdered by the Zetas. Motives for the killings are unclear, but officials say Cantu had made a large amount of drug-related arrests.

The Zetas struck again on Nov. 22, 2002, in a confrontation with federal agents on Matamoros streets. Arturo Guzman Decena, who headed the Zetas under Cardenas, was killed in the battle.

Less than two months later, the Zetas kidnapped and murdered four federal district attorney agents who were traveling from Matamoros to Reynosa.