Reuters / Dec. 26, 2010
Guatemala captured nearly two dozen suspected drug traffickers, automatic weapons and small planes in a country-wide sweep to crack down on Mexican cartels smuggling drugs through Central America.
The arrests, four on Saturday and 18 over the past week, are the biggest blow yet to the Zetas drug gang, now operating in around 75 percent of the Guatemala's territory, according to security officials, Reuters reported Sunday.
“These individuals were not just preparing to confront the security forces, they were preparing to take control of the country,” Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom told reporters last week after sending hundreds of soldiers and police to the state of Alta Verapaz to take on the cartel.
The government declared a “state of siege” in the remote state on Dec. 19, which gives security forces expanded powers to arrest and interrogate suspects while limiting freedom of movement and assembly for a month.
Police have so far confiscated 239 assault weapons, explosives, 28 Humvees and five small planes in the raids.
A top leader of the Zetas – formerly a Guatemalan special forces soldier – was also caught in the operations.
The Zetas, originally formed by Mexican Army deserters, have been known to recruit elite Guatemalan troops, called Kaibils, who are trained in jungle warfare and infamous for brutal massacres during Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war.
Once the armed wing of Mexico’s Gulf cartel, the Zetas broke off on their own and are now fighting their former employers for control of valuable drug trafficking routes.
Guatemala, with two coasts and a long, porous border with Mexico, is strategic territory for cartels that use small planes, trucks and even makeshift submarines to move Colombian cocaine to consumers in the U.S.
Drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and extradited to Mexico. Guzmán escaped from a maximum security prison in 2001 and is now Mexico’s most wanted man.
Los Zetas today issued a threat to Guatemala City...lift the state of siege or they will begin killing civilians in malls and other public places...
ReplyDeleteLast week while discussing the strength of Zs I mentioned the diversification they have in business..
ReplyDeletehere is a timely article declaring the same...
http://colegiomarinsonora.blogspot.com/2010/12/mexican-drug-cartels-diversify.html
This adds another element..alcohol
at least Guatamala has the sense and the nerve to target these cocksuckers...wish Mexico did
ReplyDeleteBrito
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more...but a bit late..they are over powered, out equiped and out trained...plus;
The Guatemalan gov says Zs are already in 75% of the country. it seems almost too late to stop the roller coaster. Zs have been there for 2 years..
I glad the government is standing upto these assholes but yes I agree with what some others are saying in that it too late considering how much the Zeta's occupy but what the hell give them some payback!!
ReplyDeleteAs soon as they are identified as a member of the Zetas , a bullet should be put thru thier mouths into thier brains. Automatic death. Maybe then, they will understand what the Mexican people think of them and will know what is going to happen to them upon capture.
ReplyDeleteDFL
The cartels find a fertile field in all the US puppet regime run statelets for their activities. Eventually they will be found in Costa Rica and Panama in much larger numbers than we find them now, too.
ReplyDeleteThey're already all over Honduras and Salvador. In Colombia and Peru they are merely in semi hibernation at best. The US made beast continues to grow. Why? Because political corruption, bred from a foreign Empire, breeds corruption elsewhere, too. It creates and maintains corruption all over. No hiding from it.
Ernest1