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. Jurors broke down in tears when De Leon described a mother and father being pulled by their hair and forced to watch their 6-year-old daughter dismembered alive before they faced the same, brutal death. 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. Los Zetas operates in 17 states, while Sinaloa operates in 16 states. 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The traditional cartels buy off politicians, establish traffic routes for smuggling and make money. They were forcibly recruited and haven't been paid or fed by their bosses. While the Gulf cartel remains a danger to society, their influence has been diminished by Los Zetas, their wayward spawn. With nearly all of the bodies lacking identification, authorities transported them to the Matamoros morgue for family members to hopefully identify. Rather than prioritizing corruption like its competitors, Los Zetas has newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. 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). 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. Tomas Yarrington, former governor of Tamaulipas, is currently facing multiple drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the United States. The memo indicated that local police acted as lookouts and helped in the interceptions of persons across all cases. De Leon will serve time in jail after pleading guilty to a marijuana charge. At this juncture, it is safe and reasonable to conclude that Los Zetas is one of the biggest headaches of the American people. The cartel member he spoke with was Jose Luis Rodriguez. Lazcano was the leader of the Los Zetas cartel. WebFrom March 24 to March 29, 2011, the Los Zetas drug cartel viciously slaughtered nearly 200 Central American migrants in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Border / Cartel ChroniclesBreitbart TexasCartel ChroniclesCartel ViolenceCDNCiudad VictoriaGrupo BravoLos ZetasVieja Escuela. Then come the Zetas, with no background in narcotics, and they start chopping peoples heads off, Grayson said. The field was linked to the Los Zetas cartel. Among the first deaths in the conflict was Edgar Guzman, El Chapo's son. 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. To protect himself from harm, Guillen hired a retired Mexican soldier as his bodyguard, who in turn solicited 30 Mexican Army deserters to form the cartels well-paid mercenary wing. 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. (Watch our piece Mexican Marines Kill Drug Lord Known as The Executioner.). However, in the late 1990s/early 2000s, a set of El Milenio lieutenants rebelled and created their own cartel. About two dozen have been captured or killed, including some from Los Zetas: Ivan Velazquez Caballero (aka El Taliban) She released videos of her beheading the caught zeta members herself. In the human smuggling business, migrants pay $100 to $200 upfront, then pay the rest once theyve reached the United States. On Wednesday morning, prosecutors called Jaime Abascal Reyna to the stand. Captured: July 15, 2013 Aside from manufacturing illegal drugs and trafficking them, the gang is also into kidnapping and extortion. According to World Atlas, Tijuana had the highest homicide rate in the world in 2020, with 138 murder per 100,000 residents. How could such a tragedy occur in San Fernando not once but repeatedly? In early April, Mexican military officials made another grisly discovery in the once sleepy farming community of San Fernando: a series of mass graves among the mesquite brush. In this pivotal year, Zetas occupied territory in 405 Mexican municipalities, which Insight Crime found was more than double that of their biggest rivals. If you dont pay them, they will take your merchandise, he says. WebTubutama Gun Battle On July 1, 2010, Sinaloa Cartel gunmen clashed with their rivals from the Beltran Leyva and Los Zetas Cartel leaving more than 20 dead near the rural town of The Shrinking actor talks mental health, being queer, and why the Lone Star State is the perfect home for his new play Silver Foxes. 2021 The Texas Observer. Thank you. One official said, "The valley is the most dangerous region in Colombia in terms of drug violence. 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. In April 2019, CJNG killed 14 people in Minatitlan, a Zetas territory. 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. Rival gang MS-13 may have the most terrifying tattoos (see featured image), but Los Zetas wins the prize for violence. He claimed that the drugs came from the Zetas "comandantes" or commanders, which included Millan-Vasquez. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. With the suspects revealing what they had done, excavations began. This was back when Lazcano and Z-40 were still running the Los Zetas cartel. 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. Originally a security detail for the Sinaloa cartel, BLO seceded in 2008 and a fierce conflict ensued. Outlets must also tag the Observer in all social media posts. 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. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. 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. WebIn 2010, the Zetas killed 72 undocumented immigrant workers in the San Fernando massacre. These cases have highlighted the growing interest of Mexican cartels in influencing politics.[5]. Months after the casino attack, 49 decapitated bodies were dumped on a Monterrey highway (via Insight Crime/The World). This gang violence occurs in their stronghold of Ciudad Jurez, where 1,200 people were murdered in 2018. 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. He frequently supervised killing experiments wherein new recruits were ordered to kill people with a machete or sledgehammer. Photos, illustrations and other art may be available for syndication but must be confirmed. 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. He has been in detention since his arrest in Texas in 2015. He created a company, Tremor Enterprises, to purchase racehorses for American contests, winning millions in prize money through fixing races and doping horses. Extortion, smuggling, torture, possible harvesting of human body parts. Whatever the motivations, the mass killings show just how little control the federal government exerts over Tamaulipas. Since 2011, there have been numerous scandals exposing the collusion between politicians and drug cartels. 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. Besides drug smuggling, the cartel is involved in every facet of trade in its territory including human trafficking. They were the victims of a brutal new evolution in Mexican cartel violence. The 34-year-old, known as "Chano", was a regional boss in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras. WebCartel Del Golfo interrogation 4 Zetas these bastards have admitted to raping women,killing women, killing kids. Drug cartels influencing politics paints a picture of total disaster. This article was written by M.A. "The first time [I was kidnapped], they took me with a group of about seven people. Somewhere near San Fernando, which lies on the interstate to Matamoros, the buses were hijacked, and convoys of armed men snatched passengers. Captured: Sept. 26, 2012 Escobar's luck ran out on December 2, 1993, when he was gunned down as part of a joint U.S.-Colombia effort. Moraless most preferred method of killing was to stuff victims in oil barrels and set them ablaze. Jair Cabrera/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesTributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. The Zetas were notorious for their brutality, even by cartel standards. 4 The handful of passengers lucky enough to be rescued confirmed their captors intended to recruit them. 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. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month, Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. 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. He was told to contact someone in Los Zetas to see if they had information. Partners must notify. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. Reporter-producer Larisa Epatko contributed to this report. WebIn August 2011, armed men affiliated with the Zetas cartel set fire to a casino in the Mexican city of Monterrey, killing 52 people. 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. The irony of this scenario is that the training they received was supposed to prepare them for counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics operations. During the trial, witnesses said he had hacked apart his victims with an axe and burned their bodies in barrels, according to the San Antonio Express-News. There is a popular consensus that Los Zetas is the most brutal and inhuman drug cartel in history. You have to keep up with the Joneses. The fact that Los Zetas and other Mexican gangs sponsor politicians in Mexico is a huge problem. 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. In August 2017, the cartel kidnapped 17 people and kept them in a stash house in Nuevo Laredo. Then, in December 2015, Insider reported that La Familia founderCarlos Rosales Mendoza was found dead baring torture wounds. 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. WebZetas behead and dismember four women from the Gulf Cartel. Velazquez started out stealing cars in his hometown of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and was jailed there. Mexico's largest and most powerful drug gangs are the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel. Gary Green and Arthur Brown Jr. are set to be killed next week by the State of Texas. Reyna never heard back from the cartel, so he said that he contacted the Mexican government. 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. This radio communication technology has given them a edge over Mexican law enforcement agencies for years. WebThe Los Zetas used improvised weapons like knives, rocks, and burning mattresses. It is practically impossible to list all the atrocities that this extremely violent group has committed. Piedras Negras, in the state of Coahuila, has a reputation as a hotbed for drug smuggling and violence. Cartel: Los Zetas They recovered deleted material, which included death threats from the defendant and information regarding Zetas operations. 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. Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty. CIUDAD 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 visiting relatives. 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. 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.