With us were five more heavily armed men who were taking care of us. In McAllen, they were transferred to a nearby ranch, where 50 other people were already being held. They wanted to know which family members were waiting for them in the U. It was a way to confirm that their parents were not lying to them. In his innocence and fear, he told the criminals everything they wanted to know.
If the kidnappers discovered that information was false, the migrants were brutally beaten and the women were raped. Everyone was threatened with having fingers cut off if they did not tell the truth. No one dared to accompany him. Outside, several armed men were guarding the house. In the last decade, drug cartels operating in Mexico have diversified their illicit businesses. One of the most profitable is irregular migration — the crossing of borders without the necessary documentation.
For researcher Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a specialist in drug trafficking and migration at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, such activities pose few risks for criminal groups because migrants rarely report attacks. During this time, the Zetas built up a network of international drug trafficking contacts, stretching through Central America to Colombia, and with reported connections in Venezuela, Europe, the United States and West Africa.
However, the territorial control of each local faction also allowed them to take their share from any other criminal activity taking place in their "plaza," and the Zetas also began to profit from everything from kidnapping migrants to pirating DVDs. The group also began looking for political protection, and would go on to infiltrate state governments in states like Tamaulipas and Veracruz. Despite their rapid ascent, by , the Zetas were beginning to crack, sparking a process of fragmentation and atomization that continues today.
The Zetas were further undermined by a steady series of high-profile blows to the leadership, the most serious of which was the loss of Lazcano, who was killed in October -- although the mysterious disappearance of his body shortly after sparked conspiracy theories he remains alive today. With no clear national, centralized leadership, the Zetas have broken into splinter groups and largely independent local factions, each with their own operations, priorities and alliances.
The breakup of the organization's national cohesion, in addition to a huge loss of influence in Central America, has made transnational drug trafficking increasingly difficult, and local factions now often rely more on profiting from crime in territories they hold than from international drug trafficking.
The capture of Valencia is likely to cause further atomization within an already-fractured and weakened organization. The Zetas as an unified criminal organization no longer exists.
The group's fragmentation into several smaller splinter cells has made it increasingly difficult to identify those in leadership positions. Other sources have been more specific, stating that El Huevo currently serves as leader of the Northeast Cartel faction. The Zetas criminal empire once had a presence that stretched across Mexico, with their stronghold stretching from Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey.
Their reach also expanded into Central America, especially Guatemala. Trevino Morales must now direct the Zetas against the combined strength of the Gulf Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel and other players, who have united to drive the Zetas from their "plazas. Guzman has already dispatched what Grayson calls "shock troops" to help the Gulf Cartel fight the Zetas.
El Chapo's troops will be facing younger, less experienced, and less disciplined Zetas plaza bosses than in the past, says Grayson. But he also notes that the Zetas new leader, in addition to being more violent than his predecessor, may be more cautious and wily as well. We'll notify you here with news about. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest?
Comments 0. Top Stories. Tech disputes at Rittenhouse trial not new issue for courts Nov 13, AM. Woman killed in Atlanta park was stabbed, cut over 50 times, autopsy shows 1 hour ago. ABC News Live. Mexican security officials say one of the founders of the Zetas drug cartel has been killed in a gun battle in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas. Galindo Mellado Cruz is accused of being one of the original members of the Zetas, which first emerged as a group of enforcers for the Gulf cartel.
The two groups later split and became bitter rivals, their fights accounting for much of the violence in the area. He is believed to be among five gunmen shot dead by the army on Friday. A Tamaulipas state official told the Associated Press news agency that while Mellado no longer held a command position within the Zetas, he had been one of the 30 ex-special forces members to found the group.
Analysts say the Zetas now control more territory than any other criminal gang in Mexico. They are infamous for their extremely violent methods, routinely decapitating rivals and hanging their bodies from bridges.
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