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Abstract
Today, analysts of the postmodern era recognize that worldwide conflicts are increasingly influenced by the interaction between terrorists, criminals, gangs, and private armies and that this interaction is a threat to the nation state. Now, a related threat is coming into play – one that involves all of these types of groups being represented at once in a single adversary. One such multifaceted group that is in the forefront is Los Zetas, a band of Mexican cartel enforcers that cannot be easily categorized, assessed, or targeted. Within broad categories of a multitude of irregular groups, Los Zetas embodies such capabilities as extensive compartmentalized networking, pervasive intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities, amassing of advanced weaponry, brutal tactics, top level military and police training, and the ability to undermine state governments and control large swaths of territory. Los Zetas, if left unchecked and unexamined, could potentially become a great security problem for Mexico, the US, and Central America. This essay provides an operational assessment that explores Los Zetas using various criteria traditionally used by nation state militaries, and more recently by Terrorism Early Warning Groups, to assess opposing forces (OPFOR). The purpose of this operational assessment is to provide a baseline understanding of Los Zetas that would make them less imposing and more targetable.
Notes
1. CitationSchiller, ‘Turning in Drug Boss Could be Worth $5 million’.
2. CitationFreeman, ‘State of Siege’, 3.
3. Recent works on the history of Los Zetas include: CitationGrayson, ‘Los Zetas’; CitationSouthern Pulse, ‘Inside Los Zetas’; and CitationLogan, ‘Los Zetas’. Much of this information is traced to a Procuraduria General de La Republica (PGR) report that was obtained by a writer who published a synopsis in El Universal. See CitationGomez, ‘Inside the “Zetas”’.
4. CitationCook, ‘Mexico's Drug Cartels’, 7–8.
5. CitationLogan, ‘Los Zetas’.
6. CitationBurnett, ‘Mexico's Ferocious Zetas Cartel Reigns through Fear’. For background on the Gulf Cartel, see CitationBrophy, ‘Mexico: Cartels, Corruption and Cocaine’.
7. CitationUS Drug Enforcement Administration, ‘Alleged Mexican Cartel Leaders, Associates Targeted’.
8. CitationBeittel, ‘Mexico's Drug-Related Violence’.
9. See CitationSullivan, ‘Transnational Gangs’.
10. CitationNational Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), ‘Map 4’.
11. CitationRoig-Franzia, ‘Mexican Drug Cartels Leave a Bloody Trail on YouTube’, A01.
12. For additional information on the Los Zetas organizational structure, see CitationManwaring, ‘A “New” Dynamic in the Western Hemispheric Security Environment, 19–22.
13. CitationUS Drug Enforcement Administration, ‘DEA Fugitive: Lazcano-Lazcano, Heriberto’.
14. Information on positions within the Zetas organization may be found at: CitationGrayson, ‘Los Zetas’; and Citation Southern Pulse , ‘Inside Los Zetas’.
15. See CitationGrayson, ‘Los Zetas’ and Citation Southern Pulse , ‘Inside Los Zetas’.
16. See CitationGrayson, ‘Los Zetas’ and Citation Southern Pulse , ‘Inside Los Zetas’.
17. CitationLavandera, ‘Police: US Teens were Hitmen for Mexican Cartel’.
18. Citation Southern Pulse , ‘Inside Los Zetas’.
19. For a general overview, see National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC), ‘Gang Relationships with DTOs and Other Criminal Organizations’. Gang relationships to Los Zetas were determined by governmental and news reports.
20. Citation El Porvenir , ‘Detain armed commando in Guadeloupe’.
21. CitationNational Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), ‘Map 4’.
22. Concerns for corruption taking place on the US side of the border are ongoing. See CitationMiller, ‘The Mexicanization of American Law Enforcement’.
23. CitationNorth Texas High Density Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), Drug Market Analysis 2009.
24. CitationSouth Texas High Density Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), Drug Market Analysis 2009, 5.
25. For more on the Zetas moving south into Guatemala, see the following: CitationEllingwood. ‘Mexico under Siege’; CitationBeaubien, ‘Mexico Drug Violence Spills into Guatemala’; and Citation NarcoGuerra Times , ‘Good Morning, Guatemalastan’.
26. CitationBrands, ‘Mexico's Narco-Insurgency and US Counterdrug Policy’, 8.
27. Citation The History Channel , ‘To Torture or to Kill?’.
28. CitationCarter, ‘FBI warns of Drug Cartel Arming’.
29. Numerous news reports exist on these weapons. Most of these weapons are military grade and obtained via the international black market. See CitationEllingwood and Wilkinson, ‘Drug gangs are winning the arms race’, A1, A16–A17.
30. CitationSanchez, ‘Mexican Drug Cartels Armed to the Hilt, Threatening National Security’.
31. This includes burning the victim in a barrel or throwing him or her into a vat of acid. These are variations of guiso (human stew) making. For a narco-video confession of captured Zetas, see CitationCorchado and Samuels, ‘Video offers brutal glimpse of cartel’.
32. Citation Latin American Herald Tribune , ‘Foundation: 17 Journalists Killed in Mexico in 18 Months’.
33. Citation NarcoGuerra Times , ‘Zetas Now Harvesting and Marketing Kidneys’.
34. It would not be surprising if the Zetas ultimately try to become a legitimate political entity; Cárdenas, the Gulf Cartel leader who first brought the Zetas into his inner circles, is known for his currying favor with the poor by lavishing children with thousands of dollars’ worth of toys, cakes, and milk.
35. CitationMcDermott, ‘Mexican Cartel Threatens Guatemala President’.
36. CitationBooth, ‘Warrior in Drug Fight Soon Becomes a Victim’.
37. Rosalito Reta, a US citizen recruited by the Zetas as a teen, was trained for six months at a ranch in Mexico.
38. CitationSchiller, ‘FBI: Texas Drug Cell Trains on Own Ranch’.
39. CitationNorth Texas High Density Drug Trafficking Area HIDTA, Drug Market Analysis 2009.
40. The Zetas, like other cartel groups, are rapidly expanding beyond drug trafficking and exploiting new revenue sources. News reports include National CitationAssociation of Former Border Patrol Officers, ‘Gulf Cartel stealing gas from Pemex pipelines!’; CitationRosenberg, ‘Mexican Trains, Trucks Hijacked in New Crime Wave’; NacroGuerra Times, ‘Zetas Now Harvesting and Marketing Kidneys’; and CitationAssociated Press, ‘Feds: Mexican Drug Cartels Sold Stolen Oil to US Refineries’.
41. CitationAssociated Press, ‘DEA: Mexican Cartels Push South’.
42. CitationVasquez, ‘Mexican Drug Cartels Infiltrating Guatemala’.
43. All of the major Mexican drug cartels have been recruiting US citizens as assassins for years now. See CitationCastillo, ‘Mexican Attorney General: Drug Cartels Recruiting Hit Men in US’.
44. There are two schools of thought on the Zeta recruitment banner that was subsequently taken down by Mexican authorities: One, that it was a brazen and open recruitment attempt. A second school of thought is that the Zetas' banner, although deemed authentic, was posted in response to ‘wanted’ signs posted by the Mexican government on three Zeta members, that the Zetas' response was a way of thumbing their nose at the government and not for recruitment purposes. Additionally, the phone number listed on the banner reportedly did not exist when dialed. See CitationHawley, ‘Mexico Cartels Post “Help Wanted” Ads.’.
46. CitationGaleotti, ‘“Brotherhoods” and “Associates”’, 175.
47. CitationJackson, ‘Utah Man Accused of Getting Minors Intoxicated’.
48. Citation RadioQuintana Roo , ‘Brandy Launches the Zetas’.
49. See CitationGomez, ‘Inside the ‘Zetas, They are Trained in Coahuila’.
50. CitationSouth Texas High Density Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), Drug Market Analysis 2009.
51. CitationUS Drug Enforcement Administration, ‘Alleged Mexican Cartel Leaders, Associates Targeted in Newest Effort to Combat Drug Trafficking Organizations’.
52. CitationFreese, ‘The Death Cult of the Drug Lords’.
53. Night time capabilities include the use of night vision goggles. See CitationJohnson, ‘The Merida Initiative’.
54. A somewhat dated, yet useful, general work in this regard is CitationEskridge, ‘The Mexican Cartels and their Integration into Mexican Socio-Political Culture’.
55. For example, see CitationSchiller, ‘FBI: Texas Drug Cell Trains on Own Ranch’.
56. Not only is an arms race taking place between the competing Mexican cartels but weapons use is also evolving. The use of military hand grenade attacks are increasingly noted in press reports. Future cartel use of vehicular bombs, anti-tank mines, thermobaric weapons, and shaped charge weapons must now be considered. As early as 2002, near Fabens, Texas, the use of a laser in a counter-optical role against a US border patrol helicopter, most likely by Zeta personnel, was confirmed. See CitationBunker, ‘Terrorists and Laser Weapons Use’, 445.
57. La Familia Michoacan has wreaked havoc in Michoacan state, Mexico, infiltrating and threatening the state government. In 2009, the US government designated both Los Zetas and La Familia as kingpin organizations along with other major Mexican drug cartels.