• DPMC Moderators: thegreenhand | tryptakid
  • Drug Policy & Media Coverage Welcome Guest
    View threads about
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Drug Busts Megathread Video Megathread

US-trained cartel terrorizing northern Mexico

severely etarded

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
7,710
Violent Mexican drug cartel trained by US military

"Founders of the Zetas drug gang learned special forces techniques at Ft. Bragg before waging a campaign of carnage."
.......................................................................................

US-trained cartel terrorizing northern Mexico
Chris Arsenault
Aljazeera said:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/10/20101019212440609775.html

It was a brutal massacre even by the gruesome standards of Mexico’s drug war: 72 migrant workers gunned down by the "Zetas" - arguably the country's most violent cartel - and left rotting in a pile outside a ranch in Tamaulipas state near the US border in late August.

The Zetas have a fearsome reputation, but the real surprise comes not in their ruthless use of violence, but in the origins of where they learned the tricks of their bloody trade.

Some of the cartel's initial members were elite Mexican troops, trained in the early 1990s by America’s 7th Special Forces Group or "snake eaters" at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, a former US special operations commander has told Al Jazeera.

“They were given map reading courses, communications, standard special forces training, light to heavy weapons, machine guns and automatic weapons,” says Craig Deare, the former special forces commander who is now a professor at the US National Defence University.

The Mexican personnel who received US training and later formed the Zetas came from the Airmobile Special Forces Group (GAFE), which is considered an elite division of the Mexican military.

Their US training was designed to prepare them for counter-insurgency and, ironically, counter-narcotics operations, although Deare says they were not taught the most advanced commando techniques available at Ft. Bragg.

Military forces from around the world train at Ft. Bragg, so there is nothing unique about Mexican operatives learning counter-insurgency tactics at the facility. However, critics say the specific skills learned by the Zetas primed them for careers as contract killers and drug dealers.

“The Zetas definitely have the reputation of being the most dangerous, the most vicious, the most renegade of the cartels,” says Kristen Bricker, a Mexico-based research associate with the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA).

About 29,000 people have died since Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s president, declared war on the drug cartels in 2006.

.................................................
The group has mounted the severed heads of its victims on pikes in urban areas, posted torture and execution videos on the internet, forced poor migrants into prostitution and massacred college students during house parties.

"Other cartels have accused them of not following the 'gentlemen's code' of drug trafficking and causing undue violence," Bricker told Al Jazeera.

"At one time, it was considered bad form to kill pregnant women, but not any more." For safety concerns, Bricker didn’t want to say where she lives in Mexico.

Deare estimates "probably more than 500" GAFE personnel received special forces training. He is unsure exactly how long the program lasted. The Zetas came to the attention of Mexico’s Attorney General’s office in 1999.

After US training, GAFE operatives defected from the Mexican military to become hired guns, providing security to the Gulf cartel, a well established trafficking organisation, according to Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas program of the International Relations Center.

"They split from the Gulf cartel and formed as a cartel in their own right," Carlsen, based in Mexico City, told Al Jazeera.

But unlike Zorro, the Mexican outlaw hero who also used the "Z" alias, Los Zetas steal from everyone, not just the rich. And they certainly don’t give much back to the poor, except the corpses of their relatives. "They are just known for being a different kind of human being," says Bricker.
I think this is front page worthy. I noticed nobody's posted this yet.

So they trained 500 guys here in the US, "to fight narcotics", then they go work for the gulf cartel, then split off and kill all the other cartels? crazy 8o
 
Last edited:
is Al Jazeera a reliable source of information? I thought they were a propaganda organ for jihadists.

(I'm asking, not trolling; I was told in high school not to read Al Jazeera)
 
Al jazeera is definitely a legitimate news source.

They tend to be fairly neutral...they just get access to bin laden tapes, etc because they are Muslim and based in Qatar. I would consider them legitimate for sure
 
^thanks. This is the 1st I've heard of Al Jazeera since being told to never read it.
 
Al jazeera is definitely a legitimate news source.

They tend to be fairly neutral...they just get access to bin laden tapes, etc because they are Muslim and based in Qatar. I would consider them legitimate for sure

Yes, they actually went a few years ago on a hiring spree of high end professional journalists from the west, with some serious Canadian newsmen being star talent aquisions.

Like any news source, they have some bias, but no more than Fox, CNN, BBC, or PBS.
 
C'mon don't let anybody tell you what to read or not read. Think for yourself and don't make any conclusions until you know for sure and remember you will probably never know for sure.
 
wow Al Jazeera even has an article on the NFL:

NSFW:
Last night was the first time I have ever deliberately sat down to watch what, for myself and most of my fellow countrymen, is a near-unfathomable sport.
(...)
I'm no longer afraid to say it. There is another kind of football to the one you play with your feet, and it is awesome.
(...)
At the time of writing, two teams are already through to what those of us in the normal world would call the semi-finals, and are about to be joined by two more.
(...)
On the other side of the draw (look, it's complicated, I'm just going to give you a link), six-times champions Pittsburgh Steelers came back to beat fierce rivals Baltimore Ravens 31-24.
(...)
In England, it's easy to let the total obsession with soccer blind you to everything else. But I now have something that I hope will distract me from Wigan Athletic's slide towards relegation, and that is the Pittsburgh Steelers.
 
I was told in high school not to read Al Jazeera)

It's like Fox news, over there. Fox news won't make up stories, they sometimes put a spin on them, but I assure you, this story is accurate.

The moral of the story is that
Zetas were Mexican special forces trained in the US, ironically to counter narcotics, but ended up as a muscle for the Gulf cartel in TX with the skills they learned in the US, that primed them to be drug dealing hitmen, when they split from the gulf cartel, they started killing all the other cartels and now all the others are against them.

Ya sounds like some political bullshit is going on. Could it have any link to the Bush yrs in the CIA, and the CIA drug trafficking incidents?

I wonder what this war is really about. It seems like the US is involved in a lot of countries where drugs are involved. We go after columbia and escobar, to get the cocaine during reagan years, Bush's CIA years. We go in afghanistan in 2001 after the pretext 9-11, and protect the opium crops. Now we special-forces train a gang of thugs to go to Mexico, work as drug dealing cartels. Hmm...
 
it's like fox news, over there. Fox news won't make up stories, they sometimes put a spin on them, but i assure you, this story is accurate.

The moral of the story is that
zetas were mexican special forces trained in the us, ironically to counter narcotics, but ended up as a muscle for the gulf cartel in tx with the skills they learned in the us, that primed them to be drug dealing hitmen, when they split from the gulf cartel, they started killing all the other cartels and now all the others are against them.

Ya sounds like some political bullshit is going on. Could it have any link to the bush yrs in the cia, and the cia drug trafficking incidents?

i wonder what this war is really about. It seems like the us is involved in a lot of countries where drugs are involved. We go after columbia and escobar, to get the cocaine during reagan years, bush's cia years. We go in afghanistan in 2001 after the pretext 9-11, and protect the opium crops. Now we special-forces train a gang of thugs to go to mexico, work as drug dealing cartels. Hmm...



money and power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Murderers in Mexico no US's fault, Al Jazeera is not credible!

Al jazeera is definitely a legitimate news source.

They tend to be fairly neutral...they just get access to bin laden tapes, etc because they are Muslim and based in Qatar. I would consider them legitimate for sure



First of all, I'm sure that SOME Mexican army soldiers were trained in the US. That is one way that we tried to help them fight the gangs, cartels, zetas, criminals, etc. Their training wasn't adequate for the job at hand, so we trained some of their troops in more modern, western tactics.

But, some of them CHOSE to join the other side, in other words, they CHOSE to become criminal outlaws, murderers, etc. This is in NO WAY the fault of America, because that was not the plan. Just because some bad apples do the wrong thing, doesnt mean it's OUR fault that it happened. If we hadnt trained ANY of the Mexican army troops in modern tactics, many would've died fighting against the enemy, so we tried to help them better do their jobs, in a way that would also help save lives of their soldiers, a noble and self less goal, that cost us time and money, so we are not the bad guys here.

As far as Al Jazeera is concerned, they have a little less credibility than MSNBC. That should tell you something of their credibility.

I can certainly understand why many on the worldwide far left would cherish the reporting on Al Jazeera. They, as do the far left, always blame Israel for everything that happens in the midlle east. They routinely lie and make up their own facts to bash Israel.

They also obviously support Bin Laden, and they support most, if not all radical Islamic terrorist groups. They did a sniveling birthday video for terrorist "Samir Quntar", who murdered Jews. "Quntar was convicted of murdering Danny Haran, his four-year-old daughter, and a policeman in a 1979 terror attack. Haran’s two-year old daughter also died when her mother accidentally smothered her to keep her from crying while hiding.":(

If you consider dishonest, one sided, biased propaganda to qualify as "credible", then Al Jazeera is for you!


But the topic at hand, I hope nobody is going to try and blame the US for the actions of the murderers in Mexico..........8o
 
First of all, I'm sure that SOME Mexican army soldiers were trained in the US. That is one way that we tried to help them fight the gangs, cartels, zetas, criminals, etc. Their training wasn't adequate for the job at hand, so we trained some of their troops in more modern, western tactics.
Okay, SOME were trained in the US. They shared their training with the rest of them. It's estimated as many as 500 were trained.

EDIT: looks like about 1/3 4

But, some of them CHOSE to join the other side, in other words, they CHOSE to become criminal outlaws, murderers, etc. This is in NO WAY the fault of America, because that was not the plan. Just because some bad apples do the wrong thing, doesnt mean it's OUR fault that it happened.

If we hadnt trained ANY of the Mexican army troops in modern tactics, many would've died fighting against the enemy, so we tried to help them better do their jobs, in a way that would also help save lives of their soldiers, a noble and self less goal, that cost us time and money, so we are not the bad guys here.

Okay, you're not making any sense here. Who's "the enemy"? If you look at statistics, the violence and killings didn't REALLY start until they split off from the gulf cartel about 6 years ago. Whatis 'the enemy' they are fighting against. What are you talking about, do their jobs better? They were sent from Mexico to be trained, and sent back. To do what? Mexico is notorious for being corrupt and mixing drug dealing with politics. That argument doesn't make much sense, you could easily say Mexico's gov wanted them to be expert drug dealing hitmen. sent them to the best for traning. 2/3 became dirty mexican narc agents, 1/3 became drug dealers. they all end up working together anyway. Mexico is fucked up dude, it's not the USA

How can you ignore the fact that the CIA used to traffic drugs while reagan stepped up the drug war and Bush Sr. as director of the CIA.

Is it really so surprising our military trained an elite group of Mexicans at a time there was virtually no drug violence compared to today, who then "went rogue"? Or maybe they just trained a group of mexicans to make an Elite cartel to finish off the CIA's dirty work, since they found out by being exposed it's rather hard to get government employees to run an illegal operation hands-on without getting exposed. It just is..

Not saying what it is for sure, but come on.. Look at how it looks. You are free to your own interpretation.

As far as Al Jazeera is concerned, they have a little less credibility than MSNBC. That should tell you something of their credibility.

I can certainly understand why many on the worldwide far left would cherish the reporting on Al Jazeera. They, as do the far left, always blame Israel for everything that happens in the midlle east. They routinely lie and make up their own facts to bash Israel.

They also obviously support Bin Laden, and they support most, if not all radical Islamic terrorist groups. They did a sniveling birthday video for terrorist "Samir Quntar", who murdered Jews. "Quntar was convicted of murdering Danny Haran, his four-year-old daughter, and a policeman in a 1979 terror attack. Haran’s two-year old daughter also died when her mother accidentally smothered her to keep her from crying while hiding.":(

If you consider dishonest, one sided, biased propaganda to qualify as "credible", then Al Jazeera is for you!
I agree with the aspect that Al Jazeera has muslim bias. All news sources have some bias. Didn't they teach you in school? If somebody was kicking you out of your home, you'd be pissed off too.

But this story has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with israeli-palestinian conflict, and really remains neutral and objective throughout the article. The facts are there, highlighted for you. If you don't like them, you can pretend you didn't read them or that it's fake because it's on one of the few major news networks that isn't afraid to report dissent.

BTW: They will never find Bin Laden. As long as they are looking for him, the perpetual war for control the middle east can go on. With him gone, the war can't go on. Don't you think it's odd the first thing Bush did after 9/11 was fly his family out of the country, when he was the prime suspect and they may know something?

You want non-Aljazeerah sources, here you go:

Brownsville Herald said:
October 19, 2003 12:00 AM
By ANGELES NEGRETE LARES

The Zetas, hired assassins for the Gulf Cartel, feature 31 ex-soldiers once part of an elite division of the Mexican army the Special Air Mobile Force Group. At least one-third of this battalions deserters was trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., according to documents from the Mexican secretary of defense.


They have high-powered weapons, training and intelligence capabilities, said Francisco Castillo Zaragoza, brigadier general at the 8th Military Zone in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

According to the defense department, 513 Mexican soldiers in Special Forces were trained at the School of the Americas from 1940 to 2002. http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/zetas-54090-mexican-drug.html

But the topic at hand, I hope nobody is going to try and blame the US for the actions of the murderers in Mexico..........8o

Nobody's blaming the country as a whole. But I do have to say "WTF?!" to the fact we were training Mexican soldiers for anti-narcotics work, then they coincidentally and ironically go to work for perhaps the most violent drug cartel the world has ever seen. Remember, this was several decades BEFORE the violence began to become a problem like now.
 
Last edited:
I wonder what this CharlestheHammer is all about? Well actually he seems to just be a tried and true Islamophobe. His panties are in a bunch because he read "AlJazeera" and regurgitates the regular crap.
 
In Mexico they have the saying " silver or lead" , which means you work for us ( the cartels) and make money or you die(in a hail of lead slugs), with the shitty pay they get in Mexico even for special Forces types like the Zetas I would rather work for a cartel than make the shitty low pay, plus most do not have the option to say no, it's silver or lead, also known as work for us or die!!..it's a simple choice for me if I was them!!
 
Okay, SOME were trained in the US. They shared their training with the rest of them. It's estimated as many as 500 were trained.

EDIT: looks like about 1/3 4



Okay, you're not making any sense here. Who's "the enemy"? If you look at statistics, the violence and killings didn't REALLY start until they split off from the gulf cartel about 6 years ago. Whatis 'the enemy' they are fighting against. What are you talking about, do their jobs better? They were sent from Mexico to be trained, and sent back. To do what? Mexico is notorious for being corrupt and mixing drug dealing with politics. That argument doesn't make much sense, you could easily say Mexico's gov wanted them to be expert drug dealing hitmen. sent them to the best for traning. 2/3 became dirty mexican narc agents, 1/3 became drug dealers. they all end up working together anyway. Mexico is fucked up dude, it's not the USA

How can you ignore the fact that the CIA used to traffic drugs while reagan stepped up the drug war and Bush Sr. as director of the CIA.

Is it really so surprising our military trained an elite group of Mexicans at a time there was virtually no drug violence compared to today, who then "went rogue"? Or maybe they just trained a group of mexicans to make an Elite cartel to finish off the CIA's dirty work, since they found out by being exposed it's rather hard to get government employees to run an illegal operation hands-on without getting exposed. It just is..

Not saying what it is for sure, but come on.. Look at how it looks. You are free to your own interpretation.




I agree with the aspect that Al Jazeera has muslim bias. All news sources have some bias. Didn't they teach you in school? If somebody was kicking you out of your home, you'd be pissed off too.

But this story has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with israeli-palestinian conflict, and really remains neutral and objective throughout the article. The facts are there, highlighted for you. If you don't like them, you can pretend you didn't read them or that it's fake because it's on one of the few major news networks that isn't afraid to report dissent.

BTW: They will never find Bin Laden. As long as they are looking for him, the perpetual war for control the middle east can go on. With him gone, the war can't go on. Don't you think it's odd the first thing Bush did after 9/11 was fly his family out of the country, when he was the prime suspect and they may know something?

You want non-Aljazeerah sources, here you go:





Nobody's blaming the country as a whole. But I do have to say "WTF?!" to the fact we were training Mexican soldiers for anti-narcotics work, then they coincidentally and ironically go to work for perhaps the most violent drug cartel the world has ever seen. Remember, this was several decades BEFORE the violence began to become a problem like now.



First of all, I was making an obviously GENERAL statement about Al Jazeera's credibility problems, not speaking of this one story, so I dont know what you are talking about when you say that I "ignored part of the story".


Secondly, you said I wasnt making sense about the training of Mexican soldiers. It is very, very simple. They were trained in America to fight the drug cartels, or to do whatever things they need to do as an Army....... What's not to understand?

You also said that you didnt know who the enemy was/is........ Ah, again this is very simple. The enemy would be the drug cartels! ANY drug cartel, or gangs, zetas etc., or any enemy of Mexico.... Whoever they decide is their enemy is their prerogative as a sovereign country.

Are you really trying to say that Bush or the CIA sent in the US trained Mexican soldiers to flip sides, join the Zetas and cartels and fight against another cartel so that they could take their business, so that Bush and the corrupt CIA can make money and control the drug markets? If you want a better example of that kind of thing, just look at Afghanistan, where they now grow something like 85% of the world's opium, which is obviously made into H, then sold around the world. Bush did nothing to eradicate those crops. Could it be that he wanted this H to be produced in Afghanistan and sold? Could it be that Bush Sr and W are in fact huge drug kingpins?

I dont know........... Probably not...
 
I wonder what this CharlestheHammer is all about? Well actually he seems to just be a tried and true Islamophobe. His panties are in a bunch because he read "AlJazeera" and regurgitates the regular crap.



What exactly did I say that makes me an Islamophobe? Is it because I dont just blindly blame the Jews for everything?(no doubt like yourself) Maybe it's because of the Historical figure I chose for my screen name here(Charles Martel or Charles The Hammer)

Plus, your credibility is shot to hell when you insult instead of make valid points...

Both sides are to blame in the Israeli situation, not just the Jews! I guess that makes me an Islamaphobe......=D
 
In Mexico they have the saying " silver or lead" , which means you work for us ( the cartels) and make money or you die(in a hail of lead slugs), with the shitty pay they get in Mexico even for special Forces types like the Zetas I would rather work for a cartel than make the shitty low pay, plus most do not have the option to say no, it's silver or lead, also known as work for us or die!!..it's a simple choice for me if I was them!!

Ya but why were they trained in the US? strange...
 
Last edited:
Secondly, you said I wasnt making sense about the training of Mexican soldiers. It is very, very simple. They were trained in America to fight the drug cartels, or to do whatever things they need to do as an Army....... What's not to understand?
Why would we train "an army" for a country that runs on bribes and drug money?

You also said that you didnt know who the enemy was/is........ Ah, again this is very simple. The enemy would be the drug cartels! ANY drug cartel, or gangs, zetas etc., or any enemy of Mexico.... Whoever they decide is their enemy is their prerogative as a sovereign country.
I'm not sure how old you are, but this Mexican border violence is something that has become a problem, only in the last ten years. Prior to them, the cartels in Mexico got along with eachother, and their police, and were all organized quite well.

Are you really trying to say that Bush or the CIA sent in the US trained Mexican soldiers to flip sides, join the Zetas and cartels and fight against another cartel so that they could take their business, so that Bush and the corrupt CIA can make money and control the drug markets? If you want a better example of that kind of thing, just look at Afghanistan, where they now grow something like 85% of the world's opium, which is obviously made into H, then sold around the world. Bush did nothing to eradicate those crops. Could it be that he wanted this H to be produced in Afghanistan and sold? Could it be that Bush Sr and W are in fact huge drug kingpins?
Anything's possible. Follow the money. Kinda ironic how the US is involved with drugs around the world, time and time again since the war on drugs was started, yet supplies go up, prices go down... Because we're winning 8)
 
Last edited:
Top