Drug War Update

Will internal squabbling among the Mexican drug cartels result in a decrease in violence along the border? U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials tell the San Antonio Express-News there are some indications the killings might stop.

The rift is centered over control of the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros but apparently also pits [Gulf] cartel leaders willing to cooperate with the rival Sinaloa Cartel against hardliners who will tolerate no such truce.

If the hardliners lose, and new leaders reach a deal with the Sinaloans, one result could be an end to the killings that have plagued Nuevo Laredo for 21/2 years.

Reporter Mariano Castillo also puts into perspective NewsChannel 5's interview with narco-mercenaries. Last week, two members claiming to be members of Los Zetas, a group of army deserters working for the Gulf Cartel, broke their silence in an interview with TV reporter Tony Castelan. The Express-News says

It was the first known news interview with Zetas — members of a group that has a history of silencing and censoring journalists through intimidation — on either side of the border.

"That in itself is suspect, that the Zetas would even allow someone to speak to the press," said Jorge Cisneros, an FBI special agent based in McAllen. ...

But U.S. officials agreed much of the information in the KRGV interview was "on the mark," as one of them put it.

The Zetas talk in the TV interview about taking land from property owners:

The Zetas explained how private property is simply seized by the gang, especially if it helps them smuggle the drugs of their employer - the powerful Gulf Cartel of Osiel Cardenas.

"If you have a ranch close to the river or near a place where they have an operation or safe house, they take it so you don't bother them. They take the ranch to pass their drugs."

These guys are scary, using military training, equipment and tactics in the service of the drug lords. Cops think they were involved in the 2003 hit on Guillermo González Calderoni, a corrupt Mexican anti-drug cop who fled that country to live in McAllen. That murder took place in broad daylight, outside his lawyer's office on busy North 10th Street.

Some members of the Zetas' original military unit received training from the U.S. Army at the School of the Americas, a facility infamous for training torturers for Latin American dictators.

Why do criminals fight so hard over control of the drug trade? Because there's so much money to be made on something the government tries to ban but people want anyway. You don't see them shooting it out over cigarettes and booze. Even some cops realize the drug war is a failure.