Los Zetas
RUNNING HEAD: Los Zetas
Nolita Oliveira Wayland Baptist University Dr. Paul Lankford
Borderland Beat Reporter Overmex (2010, August 26), reported 72 illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador and Brazil, were found dead on a ranch in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, which is 150 km from the U.S. border city of Brownsville. This discovery came from one survivor who found his way to the Navy troops and reported members of the Los Zeta cartel at the nearby ranch. According to the Borderland Beat; 21 rifles, six 5.6 mm M4 carbines, three 7.60 mm AK-47, seven 12 gauge shotguns, five .22 caliber rifles, 101 magazines, two ammunition belts, six thousand 649 cartridges of various calibers, four bullet proof vests, one helmet, four trucks, one with the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA), were also found at the ranch. With such a rich supply of ammunition and a massacre of men and women with their hands and feet tied, the question remains, how have the Los Zetas become so powerful?
Los Zeta’s was originally founded by a group of highly trained Mexican Army Special Forces deserters and has expanded to include corrupted former federal, state, and local police officers hired by Mexico’s Gulf Cartel (Los Zetas, 2010, November 22). The group originally consisted of 31 members with the first leader, Lieutenant Arturo Guzman Decena using his Federal Judicial Police radio code to become identified as Z1. This code was given to high-ranking officers for the Commanding Federal Judicial Police Officers in Mexico. Zeta is also named for the letter in Spanish. Decena was born in 1976 and trained with an elite Mexican military group called Grupo Aeromovil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE) which were trained in counter- insurgency and locating and apprehending drug cartel members, with Decena came 30 other GAFE deserters. Decena was killed in 2002 and his second-in-command Z2 was captured in 2004 (Decena, 2010, November 27). The current leader is Z3 Heriberto
Nolita Oliveira Wayland Baptist University Dr. Paul Lankford
Borderland Beat Reporter Overmex (2010, August 26), reported 72 illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador and Brazil, were found dead on a ranch in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, which is 150 km from the U.S. border city of Brownsville. This discovery came from one survivor who found his way to the Navy troops and reported members of the Los Zeta cartel at the nearby ranch. According to the Borderland Beat; 21 rifles, six 5.6 mm M4 carbines, three 7.60 mm AK-47, seven 12 gauge shotguns, five .22 caliber rifles, 101 magazines, two ammunition belts, six thousand 649 cartridges of various calibers, four bullet proof vests, one helmet, four trucks, one with the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA), were also found at the ranch. With such a rich supply of ammunition and a massacre of men and women with their hands and feet tied, the question remains, how have the Los Zetas become so powerful?
Los Zeta’s was originally founded by a group of highly trained Mexican Army Special Forces deserters and has expanded to include corrupted former federal, state, and local police officers hired by Mexico’s Gulf Cartel (Los Zetas, 2010, November 22). The group originally consisted of 31 members with the first leader, Lieutenant Arturo Guzman Decena using his Federal Judicial Police radio code to become identified as Z1. This code was given to high-ranking officers for the Commanding Federal Judicial Police Officers in Mexico. Zeta is also named for the letter in Spanish. Decena was born in 1976 and trained with an elite Mexican military group called Grupo Aeromovil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE) which were trained in counter- insurgency and locating and apprehending drug cartel members, with Decena came 30 other GAFE deserters. Decena was killed in 2002 and his second-in-command Z2 was captured in 2004 (Decena, 2010, November 27). The current leader is Z3 Heriberto
References: Arturo Guzman Decena. (2010, November 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:30, January 2, 2010. From http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arturo_Guzm%C3%A1n_Decena&oldid=399212394 Benjamin, D http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/2010/145734.htm Borderland Beat Reporter Overmex (2010, August 26) Los Zetas. (2010, November 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 27, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Zetas NarcoGuerra Times (2009, September 19)