He sent soldiers into San Fernando after the massacre to protect migrants and Mexican families, but they soon withdrew unlike the cartels. They were believed to have been killed for refusing to pay a ransom or join the Jesus Gonzalez/AFP/Getty ImagesFollowing the 2011 San Fernando Massacre, Federal Highway 101 was colloquially dubbed the highway of death or the devils road.. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin, Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. In the early 1990s, El Chapo steered the Sinaloa Cartel to dominance through his use of tunnel smuggling and widespread bribes. Trevino Morales became head of the Los Zetas cartel after the death of long-time leader Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano in October 2012. 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. In April 2019, CJNG killed 14 people in Minatitlan, a Zetas territory. The cartel can trace its roots to the 1960s and '70s, when farming families entered the marijuana business. The group was originally made up of 34 Mexican Special Forces soldiers. Largely funded by the international drug trade, Mexican cartels wield military-grade weapons in firefights with Mexicos Armed Forces that often leave collateral damage. The Zetas have set a price for allowing smugglers to transport migrants into the United States, and the cartel expects its cut, Islas says. 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.". He also won territory from the Tijuana and Juarez cartels during the Mexican government's war on drugs, which brought new levels of violence to the region (via Britannica). He said that cartel members kidnapped him again and held him captive for 13 days until he found the money. 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. 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. Islas suspects the kidnappings and brutal murders are a warning to smugglers who havent paid their dues to the Zetas. 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. It was the first time the Attorney Generals Office declassified documents relating to the incidents, and proved authorities not only tolerated cartel activity but assisted it. Their vicious feud affects ordinary people, too, such as Juan Manuel Delgado Crdenas, a 23-year-old student who was murdered for refusing to cook synthetic drugs (via Mexico News Daily). WebFrom March 24 to March 29, 2011, the Los Zetas drug cartel viciously slaughtered nearly 200 Central American migrants in Tamaulipas, Mexico. 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. Melissa del Bosque joined the Texas Observer staff in 2008. Like Los Zetas, their bitter rivals, CJNG is known for terrible violence. Men were beaten, hacked apart, flung from windows, hanged, and decapitated. There is a huge consensus that Mexican drug cartels are responsible for the drug epidemic in the United States. The most dramatic episode of the weekend carnage took place on Saturday morning when gunmen with one faction of the Los Zetas cartel known as the Cartel Del Noreste burst into a home in order to murder four children, five women and two men. 330 76 comments Best Add a Comment ComfortableSoup5 2 yr. ago If the lawmakers are puppets to drug cartels, then there is very little hope that the war against the cartels will be won. The office's purpose was to collect debts from Escobar's extensive trafficking network. 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. Yarrington is reported to have allowed the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels to operate in his state without hindrance in return for bribes. They ordered the informant be killed along with anyone and everyone associated with him. Morales liked to betand bet bigon the horses. Reyna discovered that his son's co-worker and girlfriend were also missing. Site made in collaboration with CMYK. In 2015, U.S. law enforcement discovered a marijuana field in Texas with a market value of $2 million. 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 robbed stores, they broke into an auto repair shop and stole cell phones and several vehicles, all with the goal of spreading terror.". 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, To make matters worse, the gang is also into migrant smuggling. They recovered deleted material, which included death threats from the defendant and information regarding Zetas operations. Please check your inbox to confirm. If you support this mission, we need your help. It operates in more than half of the countrys 32 states. 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 can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. The memo indicated that local police acted as lookouts and helped in the interceptions of persons across all cases. 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). They picked us up and told us we had to work for someone, for Los Zetas, De Leon said in court. The fledgling cartel were trained by members of Los Zetas, yet they would turn on their mentors because of local resentment to Zetas' methamphetamine business. They kidnapped a local farmers son and demanded $10,000, and when he gave them $5,000 everything he had they sent him half of his son.. While older cartels were more interested in smuggling drugs than anything else, Los Zetas apparently has its sights set on any type of crime that translates into quick and steady cash. With the suspects revealing what they had done, excavations began. There is a popular consensus that Los Zetas is the most brutal and inhuman drug cartel in history. Lazcano was the leader of the Los Zetas cartel. In this pivotal year, Zetas occupied territory in 405 Mexican municipalities, which Insight Crime found was more than double that of their biggest rivals. This is a unique and distressing fact about the deadly gang. SAN ANTONIO -- A father whose son went missing in 2011 took the stand Wednesday in the federal trial of an alleged war commander for Los Zetas drug cartel. However, despite the logistical sophistication and the massive financial success, the history of cartels is fraught with betrayal, splinter groups, and brutally shortened lives. When prosecutors asked De Leon if "Chano" was in the courtroom, the witness stood up and scanned the courtroom for close to three minutes, before pointing at Millan-Vasquez. Killed: Oct. 7, 2012 In the past year, gunmen from Los Zetas Cartel performed unique retaliatory killings in response to their allys videotaped sexual assault behind bars. 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. Three of them are How could such a tragedy occur in San Fernando not once but repeatedly? WebMarciano 'Chano' Millan Vasquez, 34, was jailed in San Antonio, Texas, for 29 killings carried out for notorious northern Mexican gang Los Zetas between 2009 and 2015, as well as Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics 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. Most harrowing of all was the forensic evidence. He made a mistake in his greedbelieving he was invincible and untouchable. All of the Texas Observers articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions: You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. Breitbart Texas Cartel Chroniclesare published in both English and in their originalSpanish. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Los Zetas had begun to hijack buses along Federal Highway 101. WebCartel Del Golfo interrogation 4 Zetas these bastards have admitted to raping women,killing women, killing kids. The last time Reyna saw his son was Sept. 11, 2011. Attorney Jeff Blackburn, a crusader for the innocent, fought injustices across Texas in his improbable, utterly original, and often profane life. Insight Crime catalogued the numerous violent acts of this period, including the cartel's failed assassination of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in 1993, which went awry when the gunmen erroneously targeted the car of a Catholic cardinal, shooting him to death. This wasnt the first time such a tragedy had visited San Fernando. On Wednesday morning, prosecutors called Jaime Abascal Reyna to the stand. At one of the gory murders the horrific slaughter of a young girl he reportedly told her father the crime was "so you can remember me", before ordering the murder of both parents. Not only are groups like Los Zetas interested in influencing politics, but Mexican politicians are equally interested in the dividends of the drug trade. Cartel: Los Zetas 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. Elizabeth Shell Jalisco New Generation, often referred to as CJNG, is another Mexican cartel that emerged in 2010. Officials are still counting the dead, but, as of this writing, the bodies numbered nearly 200. Picture taken from a TV screen showing Miguel Angel Trevino Morales by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images. 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. On July 12, 2012, authorities seized over 50 kilograms of marijuana at the Del Rio port of entry. He said that they spoke over the phone every day. Follow @NewsHourWorld The gang often kidnaps and holds poor migrants who try to operate outside the system for ransom. Led by the Beltran Leyva brothers Marcos Arturo, Carlos, Alfredo, and Hctor, the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO)was a vicious drug cartel in the Mexican state of Sinaloa (via Insight Crime/Wilson Center). 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 criminal indictment claims that the former governor took bribes from drug cartels in exchange for official protection. 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. According to court testimony, from 2007 through 2011, Chavarria oversaw the shipment of enormous quantities of cocaine between Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, and Eagle Pass, Texas on behalf of the Los Zetas Cartel, in which he was a high-ranking member. Millan-Vasquez was found guilty last July of murder, violence, drug and weapons trafficking, and employing minors in a drug crime a total of 10 counts. There are a handful of drug cartels in Mexico, most of which run almost like corporations. Reporter-producer Larisa Epatko contributed to this report. Extortion, smuggling, torture, possible harvesting of human body parts. 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." 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. With nearly all of the bodies lacking identification, authorities transported them to the Matamoros morgue for family members to hopefully identify. Mexican government security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez (C) speaks during a press conference, accompanied by Mexican Navy General Jorge Victor (L) and Mexican Army General Martin Terrones (R) to present details of the military operation in which Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, the alleged drug lord behind the cartel Los Zetas, was arrested. The April 6, 2011, effort would eventually yield the largest mass grave ever found in Mexico. The largest two graves were 10 feet deep and each held around 45 corpses. This savagery is nothing new. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Marciano Millan-Vasquez 'brutally murdered anyone and everyone as it suited him and his cartel', Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. In August 2017, the cartel kidnapped 17 people and kept them in a stash house in Nuevo Laredo. 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. 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. Then, in May, SinEmbargo reported that the cartel had destroyed a military helicopter with an RPG, killing 5 soldiers. 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. Terrazas said the most corrupt was an elderly police officer and another named scar Jaramillo, who receive money from the organization to collaborate. Most troubling, however, is that The National Security Archive examining this memo stated that all 17 detained police officers had vanished from the public eye. Shortly after the brutal execution, the CDN faction of the Los Zetas struck once more. Cartel: Los Zetas The cartel's influence has declined like many of its fragmenting peers, but their power remains strong inCiudad Jurez and the Valle de Jurez, which are key trafficking locations. However, despite their swift and brutal success, Insight Crime reports that Los Zetas has experienced fragmentation since 2012, especially when the Trevino brothers fell out and split the group into rival clans,the Northeast Cartel and the Zetas Old School. Among these provincial traders and smugglers wasJoaqun Guzmn Loera, better known as "El Chapo.". On Tuesday, Rodriguez testified about a bloody massacre involving more than 300 people. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Eventually, this group broke away to become a drug cartel of their own, which is now the notorious Los Zetas. Melissa is a 2016-17 Lannan Fellow at The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano (aka The Executioner) The handful of passengers lucky enough to be rescued confirmed their captors intended to recruit them. He was recruited to Los Zetas, where he rose to commander. Imagine how tragic it would be for such a respected and honored organization to become an evil one like Los Zetas. 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. Example video title will go here for this video. Who knows what is going on in American Samoa. WebCartel: Los Zetas Killed: Oct. 7, 2012 Lazcano was the leader of the Los Zetas cartel. De Leon said that Millan-Vasquez would smile and laugh as he performed these killings. As part of the threats, the Vieja Escuela faction has ordered that the relatives of the CDN leadership leave Ciudad Victoria or face a sure death. He claimed that the drugs came from the Zetas "comandantes" or commanders, which included Millan-Vasquez. The rescue was made possible by an anonymous tip about gunmen bringing victims into a house in the Villas de la Fe neighborhood. The Gulf cartel is among the oldest cartels in Mexico and has held varying degrees of power since its origins in 1984, according toInsightCrime. De Leon said that his two superiors were let go after they paid, but that he didn't have the $100,000 the cartel needed. In August 2010, the Mexican military stumbled upon the bodies of 72 people bound and executed. At times [he inflicted] the cruellest of pain, forcing relatives to watch their loved ones murdered before he turned his blades on them, said Mr Durbin. Rodriguez said that when he asked a commander about Reyna's son who disappeared, the commander said for him to stop asking about it, because they just finished "cooking him". She specializes in reporting on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. 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. The macabre bloodsport was detailed in The Houston Chronicle. Mainly, Grayson notes a Zetalisation starting to occur among the other cartels. 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. 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. This gang violence occurs in their stronghold of Ciudad Jurez, where 1,200 people were murdered in 2018. Human smugglers often use buses to transport migrants north to the Texas-Mexico border. US attorney Richard L Durbin Jr told the court in San Antonio, Texas, the killer had acted "without mercy or compunction". The U.S. State Department issued warnings not to travel to or within Tamaulipas, as a result. Web270p Video: Notorious Mexican Los Zetas cartel boss, Moises Escamilla May, 45, who was jailed for a string of ruthless beheadings, dies in jail from coronavirus Jalisco Cartel Velazquez started out stealing cars in his hometown of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and was jailed there. With the Los Zetas fighting the Gulf Cartel for control of human trafficking networks, police corruption was no surprise. Tamaulipas Lieutenant Governor Morelos Jaime Canseco Gmez admitted police were still looking for another bus of passengers. With Americans running the organization, winning the war against Los Zetas would be much more difficult. He said that officers escorted him to remote locations to deliver guns to Millan-Vasquez on more than one occasion. In August 2010, the gang massacred 72 kidnapped migrants at a remote ranch in Northeastern Mexico after they refused to pay a ransom for their release or take jobs as hit men. Mexico's largest and most powerful drug gangs are the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel. If a debtor refused, Escobar deployed his team of lethal "sicarios.". This has led to savage fighting between some 400 splinter gangs, each killing and maiming for scraps of territory (via Business Insider). 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. De Leon will serve time in jail after pleading guilty to a marijuana charge. In the end, the legacy of the 2011 San Fernando Massacre is one of blood money, corruption, and wanton murder. 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. The following facts also illustrate the reality that an immediate defeat of the drug cartel may be far from feasible. Officials exhuming the bodies noticed that many bore the marks of blunt trauma. Escobar's luck ran out on December 2, 1993, when he was gunned down as part of a joint U.S.-Colombia effort. They were forcibly recruited and haven't been paid or fed by their bosses. 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. 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). [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. Instead, they were raped and beaten to death or vanished into a new life as cartel soldiers. The winners got to become Zetas recruits, while the losers got death. He said that the Zetas commanders ordered the killings because there was a government informant in the group. In the 1990s, the aforementioned Cali cartel took the mantle from their Medellin rivals, becoming the most powerful cartel in the world. You have to keep up with the Joneses. It was one of the deadliest attacks ever on Mexican However, despite these smaller groups' threat to the Guerrero and Morelosstates, the Beltrn-Leyva Organization is merely a trace of its former self. This article was written by M.A. These types of brutal dealings by Los Zetas originally a bodyguard group for another cartel upset the status quo. // ]]>. In and around Cali if the mafia doesn't like you, you just disappear.". Perhaps the most heinous La Linea crime occurred in Bavispe, where the group attacked a Mormon family inNovember 2019, killing nine people including several children, according to ABC. WebThe Los Zetas used improvised weapons like knives, rocks, and burning mattresses. Los Zetas is a Mexican drug cartel known for its sophisticated crime machine and brutality. Families across Mexico reported that relatives had disappeared after boarding passenger buses bound for the Texas-Mexico border. The killings could be a warning and a way of depriving the smugglers of their livelihoods. By that point, however, more bodies had surfaced. With population of 60,000, San Fernando is near the Texas border and epitomizes cartel carnage. [6] Mexican drug cartels are currently operating in 47 countries around the world, including Colombia, Guatemala, and others. WebLos Zetas, originally founded by Mexican special forces deserters, some with US training, started as the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel, a crime group from northeastern Some believe the victims were simply killed for refusing to join the cartel but, ultimately, San Fernando had become so violent that few journalists ever entered to investigate. 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