Reuben told me the other day that one of the major Zetas bosses and four of his bodyguards had been killed by the marines. This guy, he said was the one behind the kidnappings and killings in Matamoros. The Gulf Cartel are back in charge and they are considered to be "The good Cartel". The devil you know is better than the devil you don't.
These two cartels have history together. The Zetas formed some years back with 31 members who were deserters from the Mexican Army. Now these weren't just ordinary soldiers but rather highly trained specialists that had received some of their training in the good old USA. It is believed they were originally trained at the military School of the Americas in the United States and by other foreign specialists of the United States, France and Israel. They were trained in rapid deployment, aerial assaults, marksmanship, ambushes, small-group tactics, intelligence collection, counter-surveillance techniques, prisoner rescues and sophisticated communications.
This group was recruited by the Gulf Cartel to kill off rival cartels. They were essentially a mercenary army hired by drug dealers to kill off the competition.
This all began in the 1990's and they continued in this fashion until this year in February when the Zetas and its ally, the Betran Leyva Cartel engaged in a violent turf war against its former employer/partner, the Gulf Cartel, in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. It was reported that a Gulf Cartel member killed a top Zeta lieutenant named Victor Mendoza. The Zetas demanded that the Gulf cartel turn over the killer. However the Gulf Cartel refused and an all-out war has broken out between the two gangs.
There is just too much money floating around and every time one of the "Big Fish" get killed either by rival gangs or the military, there is someone else stepping up to take over.
Last night the calm was broken. Los Zetas attacked right in central Matamoros. They went after the police this time. There was an attack at the police station near the Los Laureles colonia located off of Sixth Street just past the Mundo Nuevo theater.
Denise woke up early this morning to tell me that she had heard about in on the 10:00 pm news.
And then I heard about it at work.
Ruben told me that he was downtown yesterday evening taking his daughter to swimming lessons. He said that he heard the opening explosions. He thought they were hand grenades, followed by automatic weapons fire. The military showed up shortly in their helicopters. He said they were told not to leave and were there at the gymnasium for an hour before they could go home. There was only one lane open even then Ruben said. Dulce repeated almost the same story. She lives within earshot of the police headquarters and could hear the whole ordeal from here house.
The news reported this one, probably because of the location and the police being involved. There were at least 10 reported dead, some 6-7 of them reported to be police.
