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. (more…)

Hey there drug war fans, I got some statistics to throw your way. While you gringos pay attention to the unemployment rate and foreclosure statistics, we here in Mexico track the national kill count—how many people died, who suffered the losses and where the action went down. The latest numbers were just released: they are compiled by the federal government, so they are not 100% accurate. For starters, the body count should be higher. But hey, with over 20,000 dead, the situation looks bad enough to me, whether they fudged the numbers or not. (more…)

How about this eXtra Hot Spring Break update: In Acapulco, the shit just got burning hot  again last week, with more than 30 people killed in less than 12 hours. I’ll do a proper update a little later. In the meantime, you can read a lame BBC write-up of this gorefest and then feast your gringo eyes on a bloody photo essay (capturing recent drug war news from all over Mexico). (more…)

I told you I’d be updating the situation if it got hot, so here I am, because some heavy shit went down yesterday, when the army ran into the Zetas north of Monterrey. I don’t think that any of your newspapers have covered this yet, so here’s the quick skinny:

• The main shoot out took place at 11:30 a.m. in Anahuac, north of Monterrey and about 50 miles from the Texas border. Six SUVs with tinted windows ran into an army convoy and started blasting away, killing two soldiers. The soldiers responded by killing eight of the sicarios (it could be six because on the news, they’re reporting that two of the bodies were rescued by their homeboys). According to eyewitness accounts, the Zetas were heavily armed and were responsible for starting the hostilities, leaning out of their cars and spraying soldiers with AK-47s and R-15s. Two soldiers were badly wounded and were flown to Mexico City to receive medical attention, but one of them died en route. (more…)

So there are these narco-banners being hung up all around the metropolitan areas of San Pedro, Monterrey, Escobedo and San Nicolas. If you don’t read Spanish, here’s a rough translation:

Mr. Felipe Calderon [that’s our president]:

With all the respect you deserve, stop helping us. Poison is fought with poison itself.

Attention: The alliance of Mexican cartels united against the “Z” [Zetas] will continue after you RETIRE THE ARMY [pull troops off the street].

(more…)

“Raise your hand if you like weed,” the gang leader asked the raver crowd. But nobody raised a hand or so much as moved. They were too scared. So he repeated his question, this time while firing a quick burst from his R-15 into the air. “I said who likes fucking weed?!!” Naturally, a lot of hands went up.

MONTERREY, MEXICO— La Letra (what we call the Zetas these days because we’re too terrified to call them by name) is at it again. It’s getting worse than ever, thanks the lower ranks of the cartel business–made up of young, impressionable school dropouts and assorted jobless little motherfuckers. Now, these scumbags are letting their presence be known like never before. In Monterrey, the Zetas have started using them to police the drug use of the general population to make sure that people are consuming the right drugs and buying them from the “right sources.” As in: them. (more…)

OK, so after taking some time off, courtesy of me moving back to the fucking stone age to a house with no internet or cable, I’m going to try and write on a little more regular basis. This time, I’m not going to tell you about narco-trafficking activities in some far-away Mexican city, but something a little more personal and close-to-home for some of my American readers.

So I give you: the immigration rant. (more…)