Globalization At Work: Mexican Cartel Uses LA Gang Formed By Salvadorians As Foot Soldiers In Mexico

The Mexican Drug War / What You Should Hate / April 23, 2010

By Pancho Montana

Here’s some (graphic) proof that the Zetas are using Maras (a gang better known in America as MS-13) as shock troops in their fight for the plazas of Tamaulipas—not because they are good, but because they are cheap and there’s lots of them in Tabasco and Chiapas, states that still have a strong Zetas presence that hasn’t really been contested like in the north.

The Maras showed up in 2004-5, when they were first used by the Sinaloa Cartel to break into Tamaulipas. That was back when the hostilities were just starting up and Osiel Cárdenas (leader of the Gulf Cartel) was still roaming free threatening DEA agents at gunpoint in Matamoros—in short: the good ol’days. The Maras didn’t have much of an impact, though. A lot of them ended up bound-n-gagged, shot to the head execution-like. And you can see in the pics below, they are not doing any better these days. On top of that, siding with the Zetas right now is fighting a loser’s war.

Some other examples of this drug war globalization would be the ties between the Zetas and the Cubans who run the smuggling mafias in Cancun, or the deserters from the Kaibiles, Guatemala’s spec ops, who work as bodyguards for the Zetas’ main capos and/or train their sicarios. And let’s not forget the Colombian contacts that work out of Mexico City.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of dead Maras snapped as recently as yesterday in Nuevo Laredo.

Here’s some info on the Maras for the uninformed:

The first large population of El Salvadorian refuges settled in the Rampart area of Los Angeles. This influx of immigrants looking for low cost housing and employment was not readily welcomed by the Mexican-American population who were already residing in that area. The area was already plagued with gangs and crime.
These immigrant Salvadorian youth and young adults were soon were victimized by local gangs. A group of Salvadorian immigrants created a new gang calling themselves Mara Salvatrucha also known as MS-13. It is believed they got their name from combining the name of “La Mara”, a violent street gang in El Salvador with Salvatruchas, a term used to denote members of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. This was a group of Salvadorian peasants trained as guerilla fighters. The “13” was added to pay homage to the California prison gang, the Mexican Mafia.
Members of this newly formed gang soon engaged in violent criminal acts. They quickly became known as one of the most violent gangs in the area because many of their founding members had experience or training in guerilla warfare, thus gaining a level of sophistication that superseded their rivals.
Various members of the newly formed MS-13 were soon arrested and deported back to El Salvador. All deportees were first housed in the Guezaltepeque Prison, in Northern El Salvador. Quickly and unexpectedly, Mara Salvatrucha flourished in the prison system and recruitment began on the streets in El Salvador, while the gang continued to grow in the United States as well.

Pancho Montana is an eXiled Special Mexican War on Drugs Correspondent.

As a native of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, located in northern Mexico, Mr. Montana lives in Gulf Cartel territory. That means the streets belong to the Zetas, a paramilitary organization trained by the Yankees and hired by the Gulf Cartel to keep things civilized and business booming.

20 Comments

Add your own

1. Davy | April 23rd, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Things are really bad here in ES 1,222 homicides from begining of the year until April 12th.
This in a country with population 6 million.
You may find this interesting a documentary of La mara 18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gaynAYeYf4
The guy who made it was murdered soon after release there are a lot of theories but no one really knows why
2. Davy | April 23rd, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Mexican diplomat just survived 2nd assasination attempt this year in San Salvador,his wife died.
“A Reuters wire agency notes that the attack happened just days after the Salvadoran authorities have acknowledged the presence of Mexican drug cartel known as “Los Zetas.”
http://www.laprensagrafica.com/el-salvador/lodeldia/112318–asesinan-esposa-de-oficial-mexicano-de-la-interpol.html
3. Mx? | April 24th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Everyone is so focused on Mexico itself that they forgot about Central America and that allowed Mexican Drug Cartels presence to grow in almost every country of the small sub-continent.
4. proletariat | April 25th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
so this article mentions the zetas in chiapas. how do they get along with the EZLN, who i assume is none too fond of their presence.
is the EZLN as nutless as i imagine, or do they keep the dealers out of their patch?
5. Mx? | April 25th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
EZLN is as nutless as its ever been, their uprising in ´94 was a failure of the Government to act; they won because the other team didnt show up to the pitch, they just didnt act on the intelligence that CISEN had generated and that it clearly indicated to an armed uprising by the local insurgent group.
The fact is that they dont really do anything but attract italians with revolución! on their minds so the Gov. just leaves them alone as long as they dont make any problem and the narcos, well, I dont think they even take them into consideration.
6. proletariat | April 26th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I know the AIM in America used to beat drug dealers to death in public with bats and pipes for everyone to see, and the Panthers turned them into swiss cheese.
I guess the EZLN is worse than I thought if they can’t even keep the scum out. Either that or I am wholly underestimating the Zetas. I don’t imagine they care THAT much about their corner dealers.
7. Tyler Bass | April 29th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Anyone care to speculate on the gun type in the second photo?
8. Bert | April 30th, 2010 at 10:28 am
I think it’s an AK47 in a Choate aftermarket stock.
http://ultimak.com/CHOS-B.htm
9. Don Nadie | May 3rd, 2010 at 3:49 pm
yup, but the “standard issue” zeta(and just about any other um,respectable smuggler) rifle is the r-15s
10. Don Nadie | May 3rd, 2010 at 3:57 pm
nutless is a polite way to put it. Marcos is not even one of them, and is widely known how he prays on all them white chicks coming to worship from the states or europe. around here, even the most “dedicated” radical is a bonafide zapatista groupie, and all they see is oaxaca’s scene or the little ezln enclave out of a country of over 110 million. Oh, and of course Ciudad Juarez, and only because of it’s women killed there. Sectarian or rather, self-segregated activism, with the internal gender war thrown in for good balance. Ugh….
11. Omar | May 12th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Dude this is old hat, here in Mexico the buzz is about a family massacred by the army – yes the army – for no apparent reason, two kids in a school got shot by the police, again for no apparent reason, no doubt it`s just the tip of the iceberg.
And about the EZLN, lets face it: that bunch never were the real deal, not even by far, not a single combat against the army, too much pacific protests, along Lopez Obrador, and the SME they`re becoming political minorities prone to clash with other political minorities with no real chance of changing anything or even consolidating their cause.
Oh and if you didnt understand what I talked about in the last paragraph, ask Pancho to clue you in.
12. mdesus | May 14th, 2010 at 11:20 am
seriously if you agree to post weekly I will pay for your damn internet.
13. DeerStalker | June 14th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
America’s appetite for drugs is driving this.That middle class, white college kid snorting his coke, smoking some grass while preparing for law school is directly responsible for these atrocities.
14. Oh dude! | June 19th, 2010 at 6:34 am
No jobs. The jobs that are there will buy two macs happy meals for 8 hours of work. those 2happymeal jobs are getting scarcer. The border is becoming less porous since the “pull” from jobs in the US is diminishing. The ONLY way up for 80% of the youngsters in México is through illegal activities. A law abiding citizen has the freedom to starve slowly.
A war against the narco under the above conditions evolves fast to become a war against the welfare of the majority that depends on illegal activities for their survival. No wonder anybody with a few functioning brain cells knows this war is doomed to destabilize and topple the State.
15. matazetas | July 2nd, 2010 at 12:04 am
we will keep killing more zetas!!
16. Obbop | August 27th, 2010 at 8:01 am
The elite’s government FEARS you!!!!!!
Their fear is manifested in the laws they pass. Here is a law banning what MANY of the Founders wrote is a RIGHT of citizens when a government no longer represents them:
Section 2385. Advocating overthrow of Government
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises,
o teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of
overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or
the government of any state,territory,district or possession
thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by
force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of
any such government; or Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or
destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues,
circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or
printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty,necessity,
desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any
government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts
to do so; or Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society,
group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the
overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with,any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the
purposes thereof –
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by
the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five
years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this
section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty
years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any
department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms ”organizes” and ”organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes,
and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
Corporate America is becoming increasingly more powerful and
influential. Yet, according to the government of for and by the elites YOU,
a citizen, have to accept whatever the government does with NO recourse other than voting…… and there is sufficient proof that shows to me voting is worthless since the entrenched power structure ensures that the emplaced elite class can not be removed.
The Founders specifically wrote of the people’s right to abolish a government when it no longer represents them.
Tyranny is upon is!!!
17. bob | September 2nd, 2010 at 5:20 pm
good stuff pancho montana!
im gonna go ahead and assume thats not your real name, though
18. jose maria | January 16th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
In that article there are many things wrong.
In the original Ms-13 were ex-soldiers and guerrilas and ordinary people not only FMLN this was a war for survival in a new barrio, we had to stick together and at the time maras meant: a group of people or friends. Trucha means: being smart,sharp,ready and willing. And the # 13 that was the # of the street where meetings used to be.
yeah !! we were there.
19. sandra torres | August 26th, 2012 at 10:55 pm
GOD , I PRAY FOR ALL THE FAMILIES OF CHILDREN THAT HAVE BEEN MURDERED. IT IS DIFFICULT IN DEALING WITH SUCH A LOSS. GOD RECEIVE THEM IN YOUR KINGDOM. I KNOW THEY WILL NOT SUFFER. I PRAY THAT THERE WILL BE JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES HURTING BECAUSE OF A CRIME LIKE THIS. GOD , BRING THE GUILTY PERSONS TO REPENT . I PRAY THEY CHANGE THEIR WAYS AND COME TO REALIZE SUCH AN ACT WAS EVIL AND NOT SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF. THEY WERE DRIVEN BY SATAN WHEN THEY COMMITTED SUCH ACT. I PRAY THEY WILL ONE DAY EXPERIENCE HAVING THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THEIR HEARTS. THEY HAVE TO TAKE A STEP IN ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS IN JESUS NAME. ALSO, I PRAY FOR MOTHERS WHO’S CHILDREN HAVE BEEN MURDERED FEELING HELPLESS, ALONE, SCARED, MISSING THEIR CHILDREN. GOD GIVE THEM STRENGTH AND PEACE -AMEN.
– ONLY 16 YRS OLD AND AMERICAN. I HOPE THEY ARREST THE GUILTY PERSONS KILLING , BEATING , ABUSING,CHILDREN..THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS….THERE IS COMFORT IN KNOWING GOD LOVES CHILDREN…IT IS NOT EASY TO SAY GOODBYE WHEN A WE LOSE A LITTLE ONE. THE SADDEST WORD TO MANKIND WILL ALWAYS BE ‘GOODBYE’….8/27/2012- SANDRA TORRES
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