Split groups of older Zetas, Gulf cartel proceed fight for control of drugs, blackmail in Tamaulipas and Veracruz, professional says
Criminals last year attacked a Hispanic military installation in the town of Miguel Aleman, and military fights between rival gangs also reported that on Monday. In Nuevo Leon police investigated some large kidnappings and reported the evacuation of 13 people, and a president seeking election in Ciudad Mante was killed.
According to an international security professional, this is occurring in a place that was once dominated by the Zetas drug cartel and is now strongly contested by fracture groups and the competitor Gulf cartel.
” The Zetas are not a consistent institution again, but some spinoffs are very effective. We are seeing significant gangs operating in towns along the border, according to Michael Ballard, vice chairman of knowledge for the Virginia-based International Guardian. There’s a reason why borders cities and states continue to be highly contested and there is a lot of crime, but those two states are still among the main roads for heroin and cocaine to the frontier and the United States.
The Zetas were known for their extraordinary violence, which included the 2010 San Fernando murder that resulted in the deaths of 72 migrants and beheaded on videotape. The Zetas branched out into theft, bribery of merchants, energy extortion and migratory prostitution before their leaders were killed or jailed, Ballard said.
The strongest faction among the remnants of the Zetas is the Northeast cartel, or CDN, with its Tropa del Infierno ( Hell’s Troop ) group of enforcers. Zetas Old School comes next in value. In 2022 and 2021, CDN and the troops engaged in significant firefights with the express state of Tamaulipas.
You do n’t have the same level of extreme violence as the Zetas, and these groups have different levels of control over these groups. But make no mistake, they are also dangerous, and we loosely recommend against go to Veracruz or Tamaulipas unless it’s absolutely necessary”, Ballard said.
