http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/zetas/ en-us Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:07:06 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036918/posts Ten people have been indicted in connection with a killing prosecutors allege was a botched kidnapping attempt carried out by members and associates of the Texas Syndicate prison gang on behalf of the Zetas. Juan Manuel "Pugs" Marquez Rodriguez, 27, is charged in the indictment with murder in the Dec. 21, 2006, death of Julio A. Serrano. He and nine others were indicted last week in state district court. Only Marquez is charged with murder. All 10 face charges of criminal conspiracy and engaging in organized criminal activity involving the attempted kidnapping of Serrano, which resulted in Serrano's death. The... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036918/posts#comment Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:07:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035739/posts Realigning Forces For More Than One Fight Fighting “over there” so we don’t have to “fight them at home” was aimed at the Islamist threat, but a real-live shooting war is no further away than our southern border: The intensifying warfare in Mexico between capitalist drug cartels and government troops has undermined the functioning of the government in that country, which has the second-largest population and economy in Latin America. Despite the deployment of thousands of police and army troops in the north and central regions, the powerful cartels have acted with increasing impunity, assassinating some top officials and controlling... Threats Watch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035739/posts#comment Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:51:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2033948/posts Cartel Targets Americans At least one police officer named EL PASO - The drug cartels are targeting Americans this morning. Police in El Paso say they received a list of 15 to 20 names, all of people living in New Mexico and Texas. The names include at least one police officer. The drug cartels have made good on death threats on police in Mexico. Out of a hit list of 22 police officers in Ciudad Juarez, only one is still on the force. Seven of those officer were killed. The rest quit. Local law enforcement is working with federal authorities... KRGV 5 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2033948/posts#comment Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:09:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2026786/posts The murder conviction of a Laredo teenager allegedly hired by the Gulf cartel to execute a rival gang member has been overturned by the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio. Rosalio Reta, 18, was sentenced to 40 years in state prison last year after he pleaded guilty to the 2006 murder of Noe Flores. Flores was gunned down at a party on East Frost Street after his assassins mistakenly took him for his half brother Michael Lopez. Prosecutors said Reta and two other teens were hired to kill Lopez by high-ranking cartel member Miguel Treviño Morales, or "El Cuarenta."... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2026786/posts#comment Fri, 6 Jun 2008 00:13:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2021808/posts What's worse, the cartels have now forged alliances with American street gangs, giving these drug cartels a deep reach into American life and through that alliance with our gangs that gives them control over most of the $300 to $500 billion American drug trade, the largest in the world. These cartels have become a global crime corporation with an international reach of illegal franchises spanning the world. The ability of these Mexican drug cartels to operate with complete disregard for the law on both sides of the border – trafficking in drugs, weapons, humans, terrorists, prostitution, and money laundering is... Right Side News and Laguna Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2021808/posts#comment Tue, 27 May 2008 11:14:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021446/posts (Editor's note: This is Part II of a two-part series on Project Gunrunner, an operation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms designed to reduce illegal international weapons trading. This part of the series deals with Laredo connections and what the agency is doing to fight the problem.) While hundreds of firearms are illegally shipped into Mexico from Texas every year, not all weapons are necessarily meant to cross the Rio Grande. In 2006, ATF agents in Laredo arrested two men, Roberto Lopez and Norberto Olivares, after undercover investigations yielded evidence they were heavily involved in weapons trading.... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021446/posts#comment Mon, 26 May 2008 14:53:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021258/posts (Editor's note: This is Part I of a two-part series on Project Gunrunner, an operation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives designed to reduce international gunrunning. This part of the series details the extent of the problem.) Federal agents working along the Texas-Mexico border have noticed drug cartels have a new affinity for a particular type of firearm. "It's a 5.7 (mm)," said Elias Bazan, the resident agent in charge of the Laredo field office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "In Mexico, they already call it the ‘cop killer.' It's a... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021258/posts#comment Mon, 26 May 2008 01:26:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2009929/posts U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States... Previous Thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2009929/posts#comment Thu, 1 May 2008 22:06:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2017061/posts MONTERREY, Mexico - Suspected Mexican drug hit men dumped the head of a murdered man on top of a car in the street, police said on Friday, in a rare outrage in the wealthy city of Monterrey. The head, found on Thursday night on the roof of a car parked in a middle-class residential area, had a written message next to it signed by the Gulf cartel, the country's most violent drug organization. The ears were chopped off, a senior state police officer told reporters on condition of anonymity. Mexican drug gangs, engaged in a bitter fight with each other... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2017061/posts#comment Fri, 16 May 2008 21:33:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2016514/posts WASHINGTON — As many as 200 U.S.-trained Mexican security personnel have defected to drug cartels to carry out killings on both sides of the border and as far north as Dallas, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, told Congress on Wednesday. The renegade members of Mexico's elite counter-narcotics teams trained at Fort Benning, Ga., have switched sides, contributing to a wave of violence that has claimed some 6,000 victims over the past 30 months, including prominent law enforcement leaders, the Houston-area Republican told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The slaughter has gained urgency amid high-profile assassinations of law officers in Mexico since... Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2016514/posts#comment Thu, 15 May 2008 21:22:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010327/posts NUEVO LAREDO - A gunfight between military forces and alleged drug traffickers that lasted more than an hour in the predawn hours Wednesday left one soldier dead and at least three others injured, authorities confirmed Thursday. An unknown number of traffickers also were killed and injured, authorities said. The assault occurred in Ciudad Mier, about 60 miles east of Nuevo Laredo, at about 1 a.m. Wednesday, said Gen. Rigoberto García Cortés, head of the border military forces headquartered in Nuevo Laredo, at a news conference Thursday. The national Defense Department reported that after the gunfight, soldiers searched two sport utility... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010327/posts#comment Fri, 2 May 2008 18:01:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006955/posts Authorities have arrested a father and son believed to be top leaders in the Tamaulipas-based Gulf Cartel, Mexican officials announced Thursday. Federal prosecutors allege Rogelio "El Rojo" Díaz Cuellar led the drug trafficking organization's operations in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas State and coordinated the movements of several loads of drugs into the United States. His son - Rogelio "El Roger" Díaz Contreras - was also arrested for allegedly playing an active role in his father's cell, Mexico's attorney general's office said in a statement. "The cell led by this drug trafficker was an important support for the (cartel),"... Valley Morning Star/The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006955/posts#comment Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:44:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006866/posts Security was heavy Thursday as the nine defendants named so far in an indictment targeting the Gulf Cartel's enforcers, the Zetas, appeared in federal court for pre-trial proceedings.At least half a dozen stone-faced U.S. Marshals kept watch over the defendants in U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez's court, along with members of the Correction Corp. of America's special operations response team, who wore body armor. Prosecutors allege that the nine defendants named in the 47-count indictment are members or associates of the Zetas, a violent wing of the Gulf Cartel believed to control most of the narcotics trafficking in Nuevo Laredo.... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006866/posts#comment Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:50:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2004326/posts Mexican authorities have scored key victories in recent months in their ongoing campaign against the Tamaulipas-based Gulf Cartel. An increased military presence in cities along the nation's northern border has yielded numerous arrests of top organization officials and high-profile raids on drug stashes and safe houses. But there is evidence that despite their successes, the cartel and its paramilitary wing, the Zetas, are adapting. Leaders of both have moved out of once prominent hotspots and may be entering new forms of criminal and legitimate business, say law enforcement officials and analysts. "When the smoke clears and the military leaves, we... The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2004326/posts#comment Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:22:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003728/posts GUATEMALA CITY -- Reuters news agency is reporting that Guatemalan officials have captured a senior member of Mexico's powerful Gulf cartel. Daniel Perez Rojas, who is wanted in the United States, and believed to be the second in command of the Gulf cartel's armed wing, the Zetas, was arrested last week in Guatemala City where he was posing as a car salesman. A former Mexican soldier who helped create the Zetas in the lates 1990s, Perez is accused of involvement in a deadly shootout in southern Guatemala in March, Reuters reported. Experts told the news agency the arrest of Rojas... The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003728/posts#comment Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:20:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2002604/posts The two men who broke into the house of a maquinitas owner who was cooperating with the federal government and threatened him with a gun were likely doing so in an attempted kidnapping or murder for hire, a federal prosecutor said in court Tuesday.Jose Manuel "Whiskey" Nuñez Sanchez, 23, a Mexican citizen, and Sergio "Pelon" Oslan Rivera, 25, a Honduran citizen, were in federal court on Tuesday. They awaited sentencing on weapons charges that stemmed from their involvement in the home invasion of Linh "Larry" Tuan Do. At the time, Do was the owner of Entertainment World and an important... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2002604/posts#comment Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:34:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001552/posts MEXICO CITY — Hit men tied to the Gulf cartel appear to be boldly seeking recruits by posting help-wanted signs in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, including a giant banner hung across a thoroughfare, a federal anti-drug enforcement official said today. The banner appeared over the weekend in Nuevo Laredo near the border with Texas: "Operative group 'The Zetas' wants you, soldier or ex-soldier. We offer a good salary, food and benefits for your family. Don't suffer anymore mistreatment and don't go hungry." Photos of the banner were displayed prominently in Mexico's national media today. The Zetas is the... Houston Chronicle/AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001552/posts#comment Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:53:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996797/posts MEXICO CITY — Mexican federal police in the border city of Nuevo Laredo seized $6 million in cash Thursday after arresting five alleged paramilitary members at a Pan-American Highway checkpoint. The seizure, officials said, marked the latest blow against the Gulf Cartel, the drug smuggling organization based in the Mexican cities bordering South Texas. Authorities said the arrested men are members of the Zetas, a paramilitary group of gunmen led by deserters from elite Mexican army units. The five men were arrested at a checkpoint about 15 miles south of Nuevo Laredo. After their arrest, they led police to a... Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996797/posts#comment Fri, 4 Apr 2008 18:06:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996678/posts Federal authorities have their sights set on high-ranking members of the Zetas working in Nuevo Laredo, as indicated by a 50-page indictment partially unsealed earlier this week.The indictment alleges a wide-ranging, drug-smuggling conspiracy that involved several murders, including one in which a defendant is accused of collecting the blood of his victim and making a toast to Santa Muerte before killing the man and burning his body. Two of the 32 people listed in the 47-count indictment were in federal court Thursday. Only four names have been made public; the others are blacked out on the court records because they... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996678/posts#comment Fri, 4 Apr 2008 14:52:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993854/posts CAMARGO, Mexico – The ranch near this border community is isolated, desolate and laced by arroyos – an ideal place, experts say, for training drug cartel assassins. Mexican drug cartels have conducted military-style training camps in at least six such locations in northern Tamaulipas and Nuevo León states, some within a few miles of the Texas border, according to U.S. and Mexican authorities and the printed testimony of five protected witnesses who were trained in the camps. Also Online Cartel training camps copy pattern set by international terrorists The camps near the Texas border and at other locations in Mexico... The Dallas Morning News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993854/posts#comment Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:53:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992751/posts CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico – The government of Mexican President Felipe Calderón on Thursday announced a military surge of more than 2,000 soldiers in this besieged border community – caught in the crossfire between two warring drug cartels. "Operation Chihuahua," named after Mexico's biggest state, nestled against New Mexico and Texas, is aimed at restoring law and order in a region that many say has grown lawless. Since Jan. 1, nearly 200 people have been killed in this city of 1.2 million. "In this fight, Chihuahua is not alone," said Mexico's interior secretary Juan Camilo Muriño, who was accompanied by the... The Dallas Morning News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992751/posts#comment Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:17:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1971973/posts Juan Manuel Marquez-Rodriguez was supposed to use a baggie of marijuana to lure Julio Adrian Serrano out of his home on Gallagher Avenue that cool December morning in 2006, as two other men lay in wait to kidnap him at gunpoint.But when Serrano went out to meet Marquez, he spotted Sergio "Pelon" Oslan Rivera jumping over a nearby fence. Serrano immediately turned around and ran back into his trailer. Marquez, 27, pulled out a .40 caliber pistol and fired at Serrano, then 19. One bullet hit Serrano in the back, killing him on the spot, according to information Laredo police... LAREDO MORNING TIMES http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1971973/posts#comment Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:15:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1964678/posts The Geopolitics of Dope January 29, 2008 | 2103 GMT By George Friedman Over recent months, the level of violence along the U.S.-Mexican border has begun to rise substantially, with some of it spilling into the United States. Last week, the Mexican government began military operations on its side of the border against Mexican gangs engaged in smuggling drugs into the United States. The action apparently pushed some of the gang members north into the United States in a bid for sanctuary. Low-level violence is endemic to the border region. But while not without precedent, movement of organized, armed cadres... Stratfor Strategic Forecasting http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1964678/posts#comment Mon, 4 Feb 2008 15:43:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961742/posts Over recent months, the level of violence along the U.S.-Mexican border has begun to rise substantially, with some of it spilling into the United States. Last week, the Mexican government began military operations on its side of the border against Mexican gangs engaged in smuggling drugs into the United States. The action apparently pushed some of the gang members north into the United States in a bid for sanctuary. Low-level violence is endemic to the border region. But while not without precedent, movement of organized, armed cadres into the United States on this scale goes beyond what has become accepted... Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961742/posts#comment Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:26:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1953798/posts Firefights on the Border Despite a security crackdown launched a month ago in several Mexican cities along the U.S. border, the area was once again the scene of deadly gunbattles during the past week between Mexican security forces and heavily armed members of the Gulf drug cartel. A long firefight in several parts of Rio Bravo on Jan. 7 left at least three people dead and several security personnel wounded. The following day in the nearby city of Reynosa, just across the border from McAllen, Texas, a gunbattle outside a hotel left two federal agents dead. Cartel members reportedly used... Stratfor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1953798/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:34:12 GMT