Since 2011, there have been numerous scandals exposing the collusion between politicians and drug cartels. "The first time [I was kidnapped], they took me with a group of about seven people. The two cartels enjoyed over a decade of business until the late 1990s, when the Gulf cartel had become self-sufficient. The fact that Los Zetas and other Mexican gangs sponsor politicians in Mexico is a huge problem. While the Gulf cartel remains a danger to society, their influence has been diminished by Los Zetas, their wayward spawn. The heartless drug lord is claimed to have personally killed 2,000 people, in addition to ordering and supervising thousands of other murders. In 2009, the Mexican government identified the countrys 37 most wanted criminals. He alleged that the victims were abducted from buses and killed for refusing to join the cartel or pay their way out. The office's purpose was to collect debts from Escobar's extensive trafficking network. Somewhere near San Fernando, which lies on the interstate to Matamoros, the buses were hijacked, and convoys of armed men snatched passengers. [CDATA[ The largest two graves were 10 feet deep and each held around 45 corpses. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); They also acted as lookouts for the cartel and turned a blind eye to their illegal activities. WebDuring a particularly emotional testimony on Wednesday, a former worker for Los Zetas said that he was kidnapped twice by the cartel and was forced to witness several violent acts. An armored police vehicle carrying Los Zetas member dgar Huerta Montiel in June 2011. Officials exhuming the bodies noticed that many bore the marks of blunt trauma. There were only a few bullet casings at the scene, but one sledgehammer and bodies showing blunt trauma to the head. The Mexican military has been trying unsuccessfully for years to dismantle an extensive network of radio antennas built and operated by the Los Zetas drug cartel. Initially formed by about 30 former members of an elite Mexican army unit, the gang used fear and intimidation to conduct business in defiance of government operations. In 2017, the Mexican government extradited Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, a In August 2010, the Mexican military stumbled upon the bodies of 72 people bound and executed. [9] Local police rounded up migrants traveling by bus and handed them over to the gang. With nearly all of the bodies lacking identification, authorities transported them to the Matamoros morgue for family members to hopefully identify. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. Instead, they were raped and beaten to death or vanished into a new life as cartel soldiers. WebCartel: Los Zetas Killed: Oct. 7, 2012 Lazcano was the leader of the Los Zetas cartel. They were given map reading courses, communications, and standard Special Forces training and instruction on how to use light and heavy weapons, machine guns, and several other automatic weapons. Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty. The Sun Miguel Angel Trevino Morales (aka Comandante 40) SAN ANTONIO, Texas - In San Antonio today, a federal judge sentenced 34-year-old Marciano Millan Vasquez, a high ranking member and a former sicario for the Los Zetas drug cartel, to seven consecutive life imprisonment sentences for committing and aiding and abetting the commission of numerous murders and other acts of violence, According to reports in the BBC and Insight Crime, the latest cartel trend is the fragmentation of the drug trafficking landscape, especially in Mexico. Abstract. The Juarez cartel's expansionist ambitions have been quelled in recent years, but they retain a strong grasp on their part of the US-Mexico border, which should maintain their threat to the region for some time. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. It was around this time that the group established the aforementioned Los Zetas, a paramilitary force that brought a new organized violence to the international drug trade. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Tamaulipas government, the children have been identified as Galilea Garcia Amaya, Mariana Garcia Amaya (both from Texas), Maria Pizana Carrizales and Estephania Guadalupe Pizana Carrizales. Inside bloody world of Cancuns cartel wars as gangsters behead WebZetas behead and dismember four women from the Gulf Cartel. WebLos Zetas have also carried out multiple massacres and attacks on civilians and rival cartels, such as: the 2010 San Fernando massacre (24 August), where 72 migrants were found The load belonged to De Leon. Facebook beheading video: Who was Mexico's Jane Doe? Velazquez started out stealing cars in his hometown of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and was jailed there. [3] By the end of 2011, Los Zetas had eclipsed the Sinaloa Cartel as the largest operating in Mexico by virtue of their geographic presence. WebIn August 2011, armed men affiliated with the Zetas cartel set fire to a casino in the Mexican city of Monterrey, killing 52 people. His evil career was so incredibly successful that he made Forbes' billionaire list from 1987 to 1993. On Tuesday, Rodriguez testified about a bloody massacre involving more than 300 people. With the Los Zetas fighting the Gulf Cartel for control of human trafficking networks, police corruption was no surprise. WebLos Zetas is a powerful Mexican drug cartel that has made special use of fear to achieve its business goals. Photos, illustrations and other art may be available for syndication but must be confirmed. Captured: Sept. 26, 2012 Authorities investigating the massacre reported numerous hijackings of passenger buses on Mexican Federal Cartel leader who dismembered six-year-old girl Rogue policemen are believed to have played a role in the deaths of 193 people, whose bodies were found in hidden graves in San Fernando in 2011, and 49 in Cadereyta in the state of Nuevo Leon in 2012. Reyna discovered that his son's co-worker and girlfriend were also missing. The criminal indictment claims that the former governor took bribes from drug cartels in exchange for official protection. She specializes in reporting on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. Favors were done under threat of death, while higher-ranking officials were paid off. At this juncture, it is safe and reasonable to conclude that Los Zetas is one of the biggest headaches of the American people. While police arrested 76 suspects, including senior Los Zeta member Martin El Kilo Estrada, there was no victory there. He has been in detention since his arrest in Texas in 2015. Jesus Gonzalez/AFP/Getty ImagesFollowing the 2011 San Fernando Massacre, Federal Highway 101 was colloquially dubbed the highway of death or the devils road.. In 2010, Los Zetas established itself on its own terms, terrorizing the country with torture, beheadings and massacres (via Irish Times/Britannica). The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Mexico's largest and most powerful drug gangs are the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel. WebLos Zetas are blamed for last week's brutal killings of the police chief in the southern Mexican city of Veracruz, his wife and four children. This wasnt the first time such a tragedy had visited San Fernando. They ordered the informant be killed along with anyone and everyone associated with him. Jair Cabrera/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesTributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. Specific forms of torture are discussed as well as the most likely victims and perpetrators. Traditionally, Mexican cartels like Los Zetas only grew and manufactured drugs in Mexican territory and other less advanced countries where government officials were collaborators or incapable of disrupting their operations. In April 2015, the group killed 15 police officers just weeks after killing five federal officers, which involved the use ofmachine guns and grenade launchers. Her work has been featured in various national and international media outlets, including the Guardian, PBS, NPR and Marie Claire. In this pivotal year, Zetas occupied territory in 405 Mexican municipalities, which Insight Crime found was more than double that of their biggest rivals. Since the war began, the fighting has resulted in daily kidnappings, shooting, drive by shootouts, beheadings, dismemberments and other gory executions. In August 2010, the Mexican military stumbled upon the bodies of 72 people bound and executed. Los Zetas called Mexico's most dangerous drug cartel About two dozen have been captured or killed, including some from Los Zetas: Ivan Velazquez Caballero (aka El Taliban) Tributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless, Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican, A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California, A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho, Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open, Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally, A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. Cartel: Los Zetas A former Mexican drug cartel kingpin who dismembered a six-year-old girl with an axe in front of her parents has been sentenced to seven consecutive life terms in a US prison. If their relatives do not pay for their release, they may be killed and dumped into mass graves. Like Los Zetas, their bitter rivals, CJNG is known for terrible violence. He claimed that he was blindfolded, handcuffed, driven to random locations around Piedras Negras, stripped of the blindfold, and forced to kneel and watch these brutal murders. Britannicawriter Richard J. Samuels defines cartels as, "An illicit consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition and control the production and distribution of illegal drugs," adding that cartels are, "extremely well-organized, well-financed, efficient, and ruthless." Thank you. All Rights Reserved. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo, A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota, Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. By 2020, the once leading cartel was wounded and facing competition from old rivals and new cartels, such as the Jalisco New General Cartel, often referred to as CJNG. Groups like Los Zetas have also been known to operate abroad, buying raw materials from Argentina and operating in Asian countries like Malaysia. Months after the casino attack, 49 decapitated bodies were dumped on a Monterrey highway (via Insight Crime/The World). However, in the late 1990s/early 2000s, a set of El Milenio lieutenants rebelled and created their own cartel. Then, learn about the Mexican boys forced to eat human flesh as a cartel initiation. The women have been identified as Lourdes Gregorio Garcia Amaya from Texas, Raymunda Amaya Contreras, Maria Del Rosario Carrizales Amaya. You cannot underestimate the capabilities of a cartel whose founding fathers were trained by the U.S. military. Los Zetas' Brutal Business Model The cartel member he spoke with was Jose Luis Rodriguez. I know that police and transit officials in San Fernando help the Zetas organization, because rather than take detainees to the Pentgano, which is to say the municipal jail, they would deliver them to the Zetas, said lvaro Alba Terrazas, one of the 17 detained police officials. They were believed to have been killed for refusing to pay a ransom or join the Lazcano died in a shootout with the Mexican Navy. Former governor Humberto Moreira was also singled out by former Mexican President Felipe Calderon has having protected Los Zetas in his state. Today, the cartel retains a small presence in southern Mexico. Jalisco New Generation, often referred to as CJNG, is another Mexican cartel that emerged in 2010. De Leon said that he helped Los Zetas stash drugs, transport firearms and deliver marijuana to drug mules along the river to be smuggled to the U.S. Prosecutors asked De Leon why it took him so long to point out the defendant. The 2010 San Fernando Massacre bore similarities to the June 2011 confession of Zetas member dgar Huerta Montiel. Imagine how tragic it would be for such a respected and honored organization to become an evil one like Los Zetas. However, according to Insight Crime's profile, the cartel's influence has been compromised by arrests and infighting, limiting their territory to Tijuana, a vital smuggling city on the US-Mexico border. Editors Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty ImagesAn armored police vehicle carrying Los Zetas member dgar Huerta Montiel in June 2011. However, despite its success in cocaine and methamphetamine, La Familia Michoacana's power was curtailed by yet another splinter group, The Knights Templar. The killings could be a warning and a way of depriving the smugglers of their livelihoods. Breitbart Texas Cartel Chroniclesare published in both English and in their originalSpanish. Whats distressing about the criminal organization is the atrocities they have committed in the past and the potential they possess to increase their scale of operations and perpetuate more horrors in the future. WARNING GRAPHIC: The Most Brutal Murders Linked to El Chapo CJNG have also committed several assassinations, including the June 2020 murder of Jalisco judge Uriel Villegas Ortiz and his wifeVernica, who were shot some 20 times, according to a El Pais report. Drug lord Miguel Angel Z-40 Trevino Morales was arrested early in the morning Monday on a country dirt road after a Mexican Marine helicopter intercepted the pickup truck he was riding in. Los Zetas was described by the US government in 2009 as "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico". They were forcibly recruited and haven't been paid or fed by their bosses. The Zetas were notorious for their brutality, even by cartel standards.