MS-13 Recruited by the Sinaloa Cartel

The powerful Mexican drug cartel of Sinaloa actively recruited street gang members of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha in places like South America, Central America and the US.

The MS 13 gang, aka Mara Salvatrucha 13, is one of the most violently and well respected gangs in the world. The extremly dangerous  MS 13 gang has cliques, or cells, located throughout the United States and Mexico, and is unique in that it retains is ties to its El Salvador counterparts.

 Recent violence in Mexico’s Pacific resort town, Acapulco, indicates that the MS-13 may have grown beyond street gang status, working now as muscle for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Recently Mexican authorities found four bodies in Acapulco. One victim had been beheaded. They later announced that the bodies belonged to four local cops who had gone missing a week earlier. Bodies littered with bullets have become a weekly affair in Acapulco since the cartels have begun fighting over access to the Pacific to receive shipments of cocaine from South America.

What captured Mexican media attention, however, was the one body found without a head. In the early days beheadings had traditionally not been common in Mexico, and the change in tactics has led many to believe that the MS-13 gang may be behind some of the killings in Acapulco.

Deputy Attorney General Vasconcelos believes that MS-13 gang members have been employed by the Sinaloa Cartel. Yet the MS-13 is not known for beheadings, which has led Mexican media and others to speculate that Kaibiles are involved in the increase in violence in Acapulco who have a reputation to do such atrocities in places like Guatemala.

Or is it possible that like some of the GAFES of the Mexican military defected to form Los Zetas, is equally possible that some of the old veteranos Kaibiles have joined to form part of the Mara Salvatrucha for the same exact reasons?

MS-13, as any  other street gang, has in the past lacked the organizational skills and ability of large powerful cartel syndicates who are controlled by a central leadership, have complicated coordinations and a strategic to carry out long term plans in the trafficking of drugs in to the US. The street gangs typically do not have the resources and political influence to compete with well-placed cartels like Sinaloa or even Zetas.

But there is hard evidence that organizations like Los zetas have not only used some members of this particular gang, as the Juarez Cartel has used Barrio Azteca to enforce their will, but Los Zetas have also conducted training in parts of Central and South America, and have even allowed gang bangers to lead in operations as when "El Comandante Kilo" operated in San Fernando on behalf of Los Zetas.

Two trends are clear: First, Mexico’s warring cartels have begun to outsource their muscle to non-Mexican elements. Significant evidence has mounted indicating that the Kaibiles are indeed involved with the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. And there is a good chance members of the MS-13 based in Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras have been involved in cartel activity and are currently active with Sinaloa cartel or any other cartel needing to reinforce their operations.



Sources: Ezines Articles, Mexican Publications.