These cases have highlighted the growing interest of Mexican cartels in influencing politics.[5]. Based in the western state of Jalisco, CJNG was founded by Nemesio Oseguera Ramos, whose ongoing leadership has placed him on Mexican and American most wanted lists, both of which offer millions of dollars for information. Abstract. Read more about illegal drugs and those who deal in them on 10 Atrocities Committed By Mexican Drug Cartels and 15 Notable Drug Traffickers. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty ImagesAn armored police vehicle carrying Los Zetas member dgar Huerta Montiel in June 2011. WebSoon after the murder, Guzman became known as Z-1, and would become the founder of Los Zetas, literally The Zs: an organization that began as an elite security detail and would evolve across 12 years to become one of Mexicos most powerful criminal organizations. The traditional cartels buy off politicians, establish traffic routes for smuggling and make money. These are the top ten distressing facts about Los Zetas you dont want to know. Several other executions and attacks during the weekend brought the total number of casualties to 19 and close to 24 wounded by gunfire. The Shrinking actor talks mental health, being queer, and why the Lone Star State is the perfect home for his new play Silver Foxes. After learning about the 2011 San Fernando Massacre, take a look at 33 photos of the Mexican drug war. Mostly Central American immigrants, they were traversing the state of Tamaulipas to cross into Texas. Outlets must also tag the Observer in all social media posts. In 2015, U.S. law enforcement discovered a marijuana field in Texas with a market value of $2 million. As Breitbart Texas has been reporting for more than eight months, the Cartel Del Noreste has been at war with the rival faction known as Vieja Escuela Z or Grupo Bravo. However, despite the logistical sophistication and the massive financial success, the history of cartels is fraught with betrayal, splinter groups, and brutally shortened lives. The cartels have now moved beyond drug violence to murdering busloads of civilians, and the government seems incapable of stopping it. Authorities expect more violence to ensue in the coming days. Violent drug gangs are waging a bloody war in the tourist haven of Quintana Roo - visited by millions of British and American holidaymakers each year. Please notify us by email that the article will be republished at, Abbott Wants to Deny Undocumented Kids a Public Education, Border Security Is a Financial Black Hole that Will Consume Us All, Two Executions, Many Questions about Mental Health, Innocence, Remembering a Social Justice Lawyer Extraordinaire. When prosecutors asked if De Leon feared police while en route to deliver firearms to "Chano," he said that he wasn't worried because the majority of police were bought out. As the two factions continue their fierce fighting, gunmen from the two groups have taken to social media and banners to deliver threats to each other. Drug cartels influencing politics paints a picture of total disaster. Cartel: Los Zetas WebThe 2011 San Fernando massacre, also known as the second massacre of San Fernando, was the mass murder of 193 people by Los Zetas drug cartel at La Joya ranch in the municipality of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico in March 2011. And these lives are often innocent civilians caught up in the dreadful violence and corruption, such as the shootout in Tulum, which killed two tourists and injured three more, according toThe Guardian. De Leon said that his mother sold her house for $20,000 to help him, and that the Zetas let him loose with the stipulation that he must pay $100,000 more in one week. Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican, A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. A depressing fact about Los Zetas is that they are sometimes aided by Mexican police in the commission of unspeakable crimes. Not only does Los Zetas control key drug smuggling routes into the United States, but it now controls much of the illicit trade of sneaking migrant workers to the US. This is because La Familia styled itself as the people's cartel by performing social work and employing civilians, which won both popularity and new recruits. Mainly, Grayson notes a Zetalisation starting to occur among the other cartels. Authorities investigating the massacre reported numerous hijackings of passenger buses on Mexican Federal FROM brutal beheadings to violent kidnappings, the cartel wars of Cancun have unleashed horror on Mexico's Caribbean coast as gangsters wreak havoc yards away from luxury resorts. In 2010, Los Zetas established itself on its own terms, terrorizing the country with torture, beheadings and massacres (via Irish Times/Britannica). With nearly all of the bodies lacking identification, authorities transported them to the Matamoros morgue for family members to hopefully identify. Originally a security detail for the Sinaloa cartel, BLO seceded in 2008 and a fierce conflict ensued. Please check your inbox to confirm. WebThe Los Zetas used improvised weapons like knives, rocks, and burning mattresses. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/sadist-los-zetas-cartel-set-brutal-standard-in-drug-war, according to this graphic by the National Post, Mexican Marines Kill Drug Lord Known as The Executioner. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy, Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead, People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad, An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel, Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai, People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India, Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California, Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu, A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. San Fernando woman Alma Miriam Ruiz holding a photo of her daughter Dalia missing since 2010. the Mexican boys forced to eat human flesh as a cartel initiation. Based in the western state ofMichoacn, La Familia Michoacana is known for its history of violence as well as its quasi-religious trappings (via Insight Crime). De Leon will serve time in jail after pleading guilty to a marijuana charge. Cartels have dominated the international drugs trade since the 1980s, earning many billions of dollars and killing tens of thousands of people in Mexico and Colombia alone (via Al Jazeera and Britannica). President Felipe Caldern deployed the military against Mexicos cartels in 2007, and despite $1.6 billion in U.S. support, 35,000 civilians were now dead by 2011, with thousands missing. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy, Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq, A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France, A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. Los Zetas is indeed the worst Mexican drug cartel in history. ", The Gulf cartel's control in the northeast state of Tamaulipas has seen many violent incidents, both against rivals and each other. WebThe Most Brutal Execution Methods Reportedly Used By Mexican Cartels Beheading By Chainsaw. Besides carrying $2 million in cash and eight guns, Trevino Morales, the alleged kingpin of the feared cartel Los Zetas, was wanted for a spate of crimes in the U.S. and Mexico, ranging from the mundane to the horrific. On Wednesday morning, prosecutors called Jaime Abascal Reyna to the stand. 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[4] The cartel recruits in US prisons and also courts street gang members for its drug trafficking activities in Mexico and the U.S. 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. The witness said that the commanders kidnapped him and his two superiors until they paid what they owed for the seized load of marijuana. The two men who were also gunned down have been identified as Cruz Felipe Pizana Saldivar and Angel Carrizales Amaya. Most harrowing of all was the forensic evidence. Former Zetas members testified Tuesday, claiming the cartel is responsible for a bloody massacre in Piedras Negras in 2011. Tributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. WebOn behalf of Los Zetas." The 34-year-old, known as "Chano", was a regional boss in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras. In and around Cali if the mafia doesn't like you, you just disappear.". Largely funded by the international drug trade, Mexican cartels wield military-grade weapons in firefights with Mexicos Armed Forces that often leave collateral damage. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. In this pivotal year, Zetas occupied territory in 405 Mexican municipalities, which Insight Crime found was more than double that of their biggest rivals. The first one they asked, he didn't want to work, and [cartel members] said, that's fine. He turned around, and they shot him in the head. Mexicos National Human Rights Commission estimated that 20,000 migrants were abducted in 2010, alone. At least two jurors broke down in tears as they listened to Jorge De Leon Navarro describe how Los Zetas killed their prisoners. Insight Crime and the BBC reported that these splinter groups are suspected to have abducted 43 Ayotzinapa students, which hit international headlines in 2014. With the Los Zetas fighting the Gulf Cartel for control of human trafficking networks, police corruption was no surprise. It was found in Webb County, near the border city of Laredo. Melissa is a 2016-17 Lannan Fellow at The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. Millan-Vasquez faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to distribute narcotics, enticing minors to sell drugs, giving a false identification to authorities, and charges for at least nine murders in South Texas and Northern Mexico. Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images. They picked us up and told us we had to work for someone, for Los Zetas, De Leon said in court. Los Zetas cartel members and San Fernando Massacre suspects being presented to the press on June 30, 2011. As the two factions continue their fierce fighting, gunmen from the two groups have taken to social media and banners to deliver threats to each other. By that point, however, more bodies had surfaced. Instead, they became the drug cartel they were supposed to fight. Los 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. During 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. The find is indicative of cartel operations in Texas and the United States as a whole. If a debtor refused, Escobar deployed his team of lethal "sicarios.". He was arrested by the Mexican Navy in 2012. Besides drug smuggling, the cartel is involved in every facet of trade in its territory including human trafficking. The two claimed credible fear, telling agents that they feared for their lives if they were to stay in Mexico. During their enforcer period, theUS Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA) described Los Zetas as perhaps "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and violent of these paramilitary enforcement groups.". Her work has been featured in various national and international media outlets, including the Guardian, PBS, NPR and Marie Claire. Their operations in Colombia and Guatemala can be taken for granted because these countries have homegrown drug cartel problems of their own. Velazquez started out stealing cars in his hometown of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and was jailed there. Border / Cartel ChroniclesBreitbart TexasCartel ChroniclesCartel ViolenceCDNCiudad VictoriaGrupo BravoLos ZetasVieja Escuela. In August 2010, the gang massacred 72 kidnapped migrants at a remote ranch in He claimed that the drugs came from the Zetas "comandantes" or commanders, which included Millan-Vasquez. Known for his brutality, one technique he allegedly favored was the guiso, or stew, in which enemies would be placed in 55-gallon drums and burned alive. He was told to contact someone in Los Zetas to see if they had information. In1997, PBS described the Tijuana drug cartel as "one of the most powerful and aggressive drug trafficking organizations operating from Mexico," adding that it is "undeniably the most violent." Then come the Zetas, with no background in narcotics, and they start chopping peoples heads off, Grayson said. Since the war began, the fighting has resulted in daily kidnappings, shooting, drive by shootouts, beheadings, dismemberments and other gory executions. Brutality and inhumanity are the most noticeable traits of drug cartels all over the world, but Los Zetas has taken them to a new high. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? The Los Zetas cartel gunmen even executed the family dog. WebIn August 2011, armed men affiliated with the Zetas cartel set fire to a casino in the Mexican city of Monterrey, killing 52 people. In the same month, heavily armed gunmen fired upon Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico City's public security secretary, injuring him and killing two bodyguards and a passerby (via Insight Crime). We rely on the generosity of our readers who believe that this work is important. 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. 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. You cannot underestimate the capabilities of a cartel whose founding fathers were trained by the U.S. military. Upon his release, he was put in charge of the cartel in Nuevo Laredo but then relocated to Zacatecas and rose through the ranks of Los Zetas. Victims were piled on top of one another haphazardly before the cartel used a backhoe to cover up their resting place. Then, learn about the Mexican boys forced to eat human flesh as a cartel initiation. Not only are groups like Los Zetas interested in influencing politics, but Mexican politicians are equally interested in the dividends of the drug trade. Founded by the Orejuela brothers, the Cali cartel earned billions a year, inheriting the Medellin cartel's 80% market share and multi-ton shipments to the United States (via Seattle Times/Insider). The gunmen injured 4 others in the attack. WebIn 2010, the Zetas killed 72 undocumented immigrant workers in the San Fernando massacre. They were forcibly recruited and haven't been paid or fed by their bosses. WebZetas behead and dismember four women from the Gulf Cartel. At this juncture, it is safe and reasonable to conclude that Los Zetas is one of the biggest headaches of the American people. Earlier in life, he was trained in a Mexican Special Forces unit to fight drug-trafficking organizations. The Texas Observer is known for its fiercely independent, uncompromising work which we are pleased to provide to the public at no charge in this space. They immediately went to war with the Los Zetas and proudly claimed responsibility for a swathe of mass killings, including the massacre of 15 Mexican cops in a single ambush. Based in northwest Mexico's Sinaloa state, the Sinaloa Cartel is widely considered to be the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere, according to Insight Crime. These types of brutal dealings by Los Zetas originally a bodyguard group for another cartel upset the status quo. If you support this mission, we need your help. The women have been identified as Lourdes Gregorio Garcia Amaya from Texas, Raymunda Amaya Contreras, Maria Del Rosario Carrizales Amaya, Griselda Carrizales Amaya and Maria Cirila Contreras Garcia. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes, A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India, The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC, An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution, A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors, State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya, A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic, A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California, Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. But Los Zetas stands out. With countless reports emerging of mayors and cops across Mexico collaborating with the cartels, it appears tragically unsurprising that many who knew the truth were either put into hiding or killed to keep them quiet. Lazcano died in a shootout with the Mexican Navy. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. However, PBS wrote that the Cali cartel did not inherit Escobar's public flair for violence, preferring to adopt a business faade in their international operation. In the 1990s, the aforementioned Cali cartel took the mantle from their Medellin rivals, becoming the most powerful cartel in the world. A rival of the Sinaloa cartel, the Juarez group has been responsible for thousands of murders across its territory, which included 21 states at the height of its power. Shortly after the brutal execution, the CDN faction of the Los Zetas struck once more. Yet the Cali cartel was still a powerful drug cartel that used violence if it had to, especially during its conflict with the Medellin cartel, which took many lives on both sides. Los Zetas is a powerful Mexican drug cartel that has made special use of fear to achieve its business goals. The fact that Los Zetas and other Mexican gangs sponsor politicians in Mexico is a huge problem. Human smugglers often use buses to transport migrants north to the Texas-Mexico border. The rescue was made possible by an anonymous tip about gunmen bringing victims into a house in the Villas de la Fe neighborhood. The gunmen murdered a young girl by the name of Estefania Martinez Diaz, a woman by the name of Mara Campillo Mata and a man by the name of Miguel Angel Mendoza. Do you think free access to journalism like this is important? The criminal indictment claims that the former governor took bribes from drug cartels in exchange for official protection. There is a popular consensus that Los Zetas is the most brutal and inhuman drug cartel in history. Following the murder of 72 kidnapped migrants in August 2010, a subsequent investigation revealed that some Mexican policemen assisted the Zetas in committing the slaughter. She specializes in reporting on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. She was known for being the crazy white one. The 2010 San Fernando Massacre bore similarities to the June 2011 confession of Zetas member dgar Huerta Montiel. An 18-year old Ecuadorian migrant who survived the massacre told officials that it was Los Zetas, a brutal drug cartel, that had kidnapped the group of Central and South American migrants. When it was The load belonged to De Leon. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia, The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. They were the victims of a brutal new evolution in Mexican cartel violence. Lazcano was the leader of the Los Zetas cartel. That's right the Wight bitch was the bad one and cut off heads with axes with her own hands. Picture taken from a TV screen showing Miguel Angel Trevino Morales by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images. 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. A red Blackberry phone belonging to De Leon was examined by computer forensics experts with Homeland Security Investigations. Curiously, no bus line reported their buses or passengers missing. In 2015, Los Zetas leader Morales was arrested in Mexico City. [2] It is a fact that some of the cartels initial members were elite Mexican troops who were trained in the early 1990s by Americas 7th Special Forces Group. If you dont pay them, they will take your merchandise, he says. From the mid-1980s to his death in 1993, Pablo Escobar was the "King of Cocaine," earning an estimated $420 million a week, according to Insider. Officials exhuming the bodies noticed that many bore the marks of blunt trauma. Extortion, smuggling, torture, possible harvesting of human body parts. Led by the infamous Pablo Escobar, the Medellin cartel is said to have killed thousands of people, including three Colombian presidential candidates, many judges and over 1,000 police officers (via Biography). He sent soldiers into San Fernando after the massacre to protect migrants and Mexican families, but they soon withdrew unlike the cartels. The April 6, 2011, effort would eventually yield the largest mass grave ever found in Mexico. Tamaulipas Lieutenant Governor Morelos Jaime Canseco Gmez admitted police were still looking for another bus of passengers. Then, on April 21, 2011, police arrested San Fernandos police chief and got a little closer to the truth. Los Zetas was described by the US government in 2009 as "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico". Between January 2009 and July 2015, Millan-Vasquez was responsible for the murders of at least 29 people, according to testimony from the trial reported by local broadcaster KSAT. During the late '70s and 1980s, the Sinaloa Cartel worked with the Medellin cartel, establishing lucrative cocaine routes to the United States that spanned land, sea and air. The kidnapping and murder of the SEIDO agents resembles the type of actions of another infamous Mexican crime group, the Zetas. Alliances were formed on both sides, with the BLO allying with Los Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel working with the Gulf and Familia Michoacana cartels (via Insight Crime). Groups like Los Zetas have also been known to operate abroad, buying raw materials from Argentina and operating in Asian countries like Malaysia. Jair Cabrera/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesTributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. In August 2017, the cartel kidnapped 17 people and kept them in a stash house in Nuevo Laredo. Initially, the group was led by Osiel Crdenas Guilln, who recruited around 30 alumni from Mexico's special forces. Reporter-producer Larisa Epatko contributed to this report. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. [1] The deadly organization started out as the enforcement branch of the Mexican Gulf Cartel. The CJNG split from the Sinaloa Cartel after the killing of Ignacio Coronel, a capo whose death caused a power vacuum(via Insight Crime). 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. They would rape and kill the women and offer men a macabre choice. The chief and 16 of his 25 men were questioned under suspicion of helping the Zetas abduct, kill, and bury the passengers. If their relatives do not pay for their release, they may be killed and dumped into mass graves. Since then, BLO members have either been killed, jailed or defected to new splinter groups, such as the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos, which dabble in extortion, kidnapping and lethal violence. However, in the late 1990s/early 2000s, a set of El Milenio lieutenants rebelled and created their own cartel. Today, the cartel retains a small presence in southern Mexico. He has been in detention since his arrest in Texas in 2015. De Leon said that during his captivity, he witnessed Zetas commanders dismember people while they were still alive and throw the body parts into a flaming barrel. WebCIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas -- Gunmen with the Los Zetas cartel butchered close to 20 victims over the weekend, three of those victims were Texas residents who had been In 2017, the Mexican government extradited Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, a Aside from manufacturing illegal drugs and trafficking them, the gang is also into kidnapping and extortion.
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