txsgrunt's Blogs

Immigration. Aside from the political issues surrounding immigration, I will try to explain why allowing the immigration bills to pass would be a bad thing for the US of A. While allowing immigration to the U.S. has been a hallmark of the American way, it is not the same as it was even 10 years ago. The purpose of immigration nowadays does not have the same purpose it did when people were trying to gain U.S. citizenship for a better way of life. Yes, I realize that people from other countries are trying to enter our country to escape persecution and crime in their perspective countries, but what are they contributing to ours? Are they they just trying to bring their way of life to our neighborhoods for their gain. While many Americans are screaming and yelling to let them in because they are are looking to participate in the American Dream, they are being fooled by the true intentions by many of the so called poor helpless immigrants. My sources at many of the U.S. ports of entry tell me the same thing over and over again. They hear the same sob stories over and over again about just trying to look for work to help their families and the persecution from the cartels and the government. How they just want to earn a decent living, etc, etc. Well, many of these so called immigrants first break the U.S. laws by having themselves smuggled across, and break U.S. laws by crossing illegally and in many cases backpack illegal drugs for extra money instead of the legal route. Then they claim they were forced to do so by the cartels only to find out that they have been busted and deported several times before for doing the same thing at different location. Another purpose for entering the U.S. is to establish transitional contacts and points of distribution (or cells) for future drug shipments as was proven by the latest sting operation in which several illegal immigrants were rounded up by ICE officials all over Texas in December of 2009. All were involved in the drug trade and living in the U.S. illegally, Do you think they were paying taxes like you and me, were they endangering innocent families living next door? Were they contributing to the American way of life like you and I? Are they above the law? Yet, these people who broke our laws to enter our country and dealing in narcotics were receiving free medical care, free schooling for their kids, we were paying for their health care, subsidizing their welfare cards for food because they cannot spend the drug cartel's money on those things or they will be hunted down in our country endangering even more American lives. I and many other U.S. military veterans do not have as good benefits as they do and even get neglected or rejected in some cases and get even better care than we do. We can no longer keep falling for the same sob stories for the sake of political correctness and self righteousness. They've learned to use those virtues against us.
Just as many Islamic radicals have infiltrated our sovereignty by entering our country under false pretenses such as the 9-11 bombers did, The Mexican illegals have learned from that and attempting the same techniques. If you saw an Iranian Islamic radical terrorist entering the U.S. hidden in the undercarriage of a car would you be shocked and scared? Why not a Mexican National with evil intentions who could cause serious mayhem in the U.S. Yes, I know a dirty bomb would be more dramatic than getting our children hooked on drugs and killing a few rivals on our streets would, but only because cases like that don't make the headlines like a bomb would. I think that's only because we have become somewhat desensitized to drug dealers being killed in the streets as opposed to an Islamic terrorist planting a bomb in New York Square. If you don't think that will ever affect you, it will only be a matter of time if you succumb to political correctness and acceptance of outsiders. To address the human side of immigration, Yes. I believe that there are honest hard working Mexican nationals seeking U.S. citizenship that want to contribute to our society because I know a few. But, we cannot continue to fall for the same old sob story and be blinded by self righteousness and political correctness that endanger our American way of life to ease our conscience in the name of acceptance of other cultures and their ways of life.
OK folks before you start calling me a racist or prejudiced against Mexicans, I must state that I am of Mexican decent and 2nd generation American citizen sworn to defend the American way of life. I have chosen to defend the country I have integrated into as my parents have because the USA has provided us with a prosperous life as the U.S. Constitution states. I am just asking that you rethink the issue of politics and "acceptance" and "understanding" over national security and our way of life as our Constitution states it. Our Constitution has made us the most powerful and most desirable country on Earth. Now is no time time to compromise our principles for the sake of false principles of political correctness or politics.

Tonight, I am writing this post as I listen to the aircraft flying around my neighborhood. I know which aircraft it is and the crew on board. I also hear many sirens. I just got off duty so I don't know exactly what's going on but I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow when I go back on duty on duty. I could easily log on to my work site and find out, but I got off duty two hours ago and just want to kick back with a Corona brew and enjoy a cartoon on TV to numb my brain from today's workload of the Third War incidents of today.

So. This post is a block of instruction on the role Los Zetas (The Zetas)play in The Third War. The Zetas as described in my last post is an independent drug cartel fighting for the northern Mexican State of Tamaulipas - deep south Texas drug route against the mighty Gulf Cartel. Now against the New Federation which is the alliance between the Gulf Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel and others who want to destroy the Zetas just out of pure hatred.

The Zetas were originally formed back in the late 80s by a man named Heriberto Lazcano, AKA "El Lazca" and are considered by most as being the most violent paramilitary group in Mexico. Lazcano was at the time a highly trained Special Forces soldier in the Mexican Army who was trained in counter drug operation at Ft. Benning Georgia's School of the Americas to help Mexico fight the drug cartels. He and his subordinates were trained in all aspects of special warfare, counter insurgency, survival, escape and evasion, all the black ops stuff.
Once he returned to Mexico, he applied his skills in support of the Mexican war on drugs and served his country well as Z10. All counter-drug special ops soldiers used the call sign Z with 10 being the commander of the unit. Eventually Lazcano became disillusioned with his mission, mainly because of the dismal conditions, rewards, and pay for the effort he was putting forth. He finally realized he was fighting an uphill battle that could not be won and the only outcome for him would be death and penniless, or Pesoless in his case. Lazcano deserted and took a few of his men with him and brokered a deal with the Gulf Cartel after a few freelance jobs for anyone willing to pay him what he felt he was worth. Now the he was working as the enforcement arm for the powerful Gulf Cartel and making more money in a month than he ever made in a year in the army, he was set and recruited more deserters. He slowly built a small army with his personal ruthless twist of "the more senseless, the better".

The Zetas were quickly becoming well known throughout Mexico as being downright mean, ruthless, and cruel. They would not hesitate to kill, behead, eviscerate, torture, burn, rape, dismember, or mutilate an enemy on nothing more than a nod from a Zeta or Gulf Cartel leader. It was rumored that even the cruel Gulf Cartel leaders feared the Zetas being near them and referred to them as Demonios (demons).

Due to the Zeta's senseless propensity for killing and blind obedience, they accidentally killed a high ranking Gulf Cartel member who strode into town to check on his operation. The problem arose when either the Gulf Cartel member did not announce his arrival in town, or the Zeta gunman did not get the word that the Gulf lieutenant was coming to town. Either way, the unwritten rule among cartels states that if a gunman from a cartel kills an ally, whether intentionally or accidentally, the killer must be handed over for execution. At this point Lazcano refused to turn over his gunman. Supposedly because it was the Gulf Cartel's fault for not following procedure of announcing their arrival.
Because the Zetas broke the "Code", they were now violators and had to be eliminated. The word was put out that it was open season on any Zeta for anyone with a gun. This is a good time to mention that gun ownership by civilians in Mexico is prohibited. So, anyone who has a gun is a criminal.
This was the time that Lazcano felt his organization was big enough, powerful enough, trained enough, and feared enough to start his very own cartel. He felt Los Zetas were feared and trained enough that he could easily wipe out the Gulf Cartel and take over their territory and jump to the top of the drug cartel food chain. Unfortunately for Lazcano, the training his lower level foot soldier Zetas had received was not enough to overcome the fierce loyalty of the more experience Gulf Cartel soldiers. Ensuing battles were lopsided in favor of the Gulf Cartel over the undermanned Zetas that were even hated by the local peasants who would point them out to patrolling Gulf Cartel soldiers. The Zetas were eventually pushed west into remote ranch land areas south of Falcon Lake where they hid out to regroup and recruit anyone with a pulse with promises of wealth and glory.

During this time The Zetas were regrouping and planning their "second coming" when an American Jet Skier and his wife wandered into their territory for a photo session of the local ruins in Guerrero within the Zeta area of operations. The Zeta guards mistook the intruders for spies or enemies and went after them in boats. They chased the couple with AK 47s firing at full bore in an attempt to scare them off. In their haste and poor training, they shot David Hartley in the head and he fell in the water, David's wife circled around to try to help but there was nothing she could do as they continued firing in her direction. She gunned the engine on her Jet Ski and headed north without her husband as they chased her with AKs still firing up to the the International Boundary Line. I received the report on the shooting and started the normal procedure on border incidents. 30 minutes later, my cell phone rang, it was a friend who asked me if I could help with information on the shooting of his associate on Falcon Lake. He gave me the victim's name and my heart sank. It was a mutual friend.

Now many of the Zeta soldier caste are a low level bunch of underpaid under trained rag tag group of uneducated unwilling peasants and criminals threatened into doing the dirty work of the Zetas under threat of a slow painful death. This still makes them an extremely dangerous threat since they have no choice but to kill or be killed. Proof of the Zeta's ruthlessness and cruelty has been seen in cases such as the massacre of the 72 immigrants in San Fernando and the overtaking and mass exodus of scared civilians in the historic town of Mier.

Next week, The immigration issue and a word on Nancy Davis.

The links below will take to the respective story, please be advised that the reports are wrenching and not for the faint of heart but for the reality seeker. The Third War does exists. It is a hidden war, but it does exist.

Mier overtaking: http://mexicotoday.com.mx/en/headlines-footer-links-34/1599-zetas-threat-spark s-exodus-from-town-in-tamaulipas.html

Massacre: http://forums.liveleak.com/showthread.php?t=70907

Why is there so much killing going on in Mexico? The answer is in its simplest form is control by intimidation. Although people are killed for various reasons in Mexico, killing has become a tool for the cartels. There are several drug cartels in Mexico and each one of them wants to dominate the lucrative drug routes into the United States. A lot of the violence is now between the Mexican government trying to stop the cartels and cartel against cartel violence. The larger drug cartels are actually organized multi-leveled organizations with a rank and file structure similar to military units with ranks, specific roles, promotions and an internal language and communication system with territories or "plazas", foot soldiers- "sicarios", lookouts- "halcones". It's when one cartel attempts to enter another cartel's territory that the violence starts. Unfortunately, innocent civilians often get caught in the cross fire. Sometimes, the "innocent" taco vendor, taxi driver, shoe shiner, or street beggar is actually a paid "halcon" or lookout that was found out and killed. Sometimes it will be a lieutenant who was passing through but did not announce his arrival in the plaza that gets blown away in a hail of bullets.

To show their enemies how serious they are about protecting their routes, they have resorted to some of the most grisly methods of killing that would nausiate even the most hardened combat veteran or gag a maggot. Everything from cutting up bodies limb by limb to beheadings, and dipping bodies into vats of acid which they proudly post on the internet. I will leave out many of the other gory details they have resorted to. Anything goes and there is no fear of the law since all levels of law enforcement have been infiltrated and subjected to this type of intimidation as many officers have suffered this fate and are seriously out gunned and under trained to handle this type of violence. In some cases, entire police forces have quit or resigned because of the intimidation or unspeakable ways fellow officers have been killed.

The two largest and most powerful drug cartels in Mexico are the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel which currently dominate the routes into California and Texas respectively. Many other smaller aspiring cartels are vying for those same routes. Inspired by the incredible wealth to be made, they will are willing to do whatever it takes to anyone who stands in their way. Add to the mix, the Mexican government's attempt to stop the cartel from enlarging their operations and you can see how the violence can only escalate. Since millions of dollars are at stake, no drug cartel leader is willing to give up the billionaire's lifestyle, or a drug route to anyone, he will continue to order his troops with the promise of wealth to fight to the death to protect his interests.

The problem of violence in the Texas sector has come about because the Gulf Cartel has waged war on it's former enforcement branch, Los Zetas. Los Zetas were formed by ex Mexican military special forces soldiers who deserted for the more lucrative business of drug trafficking. Initially, many of the Zetas were trained by the US Military for the purpose of fighting drug cartels but the Gulf Cartel leader enticed many of the soldiers to work for them as enforcers since they were familiar with the ins and out of counter drug and other special operations techniques. Recruiting them was easy because a cartel leader can easily quadruple a soldier's pay, benefits and status. Los Zetas were initially very effective and helped the Gulf Cartel increase their profits by eliminating many of the Gulf Cartel's enemies and obstacles through technical and tactical know how. One day in early 2010 A Gulf Cartel leader rolled into his plaza in Reynosa, Mexico unannounced or without a Zeta scout being notified and the Gulf Cartel leader was accidentally killed by a Zeta assassin gunman. As cartel rule has it, the killer was to be turned over to the victim's commander for execution regardless of rank or position. The Zeta commander refused to turn over one of his best trained assassins and friend. That was a turning point in the violence in Mexico. That was the day Los Zetas decide it was time to break away from the Gulf Cartel and go at it alone. The next day The Gulf Cartel declared war on Los Zetas who had decide that they would take over the most profitable route into the US for themselves. The Gulf Cartel leader instructed all member of the Gulf Cartel to kill any member of Los Zetas with a reward for a head.
Eventually, the task of killing a highly trained and skilled Zeta became a challenge for poor uneducated, untrained thugs recruited off the streets used to killing Gulf Cartel enemies and policemen for $20.

Los Zetas were now becoming a challenge to the Gulf Cartel and cutting into their profits with the potential of taking over the South Texas routes all together. The Gulf Cartel Leader called upon a longtime rival to join him in an effort to eliminate Los Zetas by convincing him that they would eventually go after the Sinaloa routes as well. The Sinaloa Cartel agreed and formed an alliance with the Gulf Cartel in an effort to eliminate Los Zetas. Thus the war against Los Zetas was been waged along the US/Mexico border with countless innocent Mexican citizens caught in the crossfire of the war between the Gulf Cartel, The Sinaloa Cartel against Los Zetas while the government was trying to eliminate all three.


Next week,

More on Los Zetas on my next post.

First off, I need to apologize for the delay in posting the second part of my blog. Aside from the holidays, my assignments have been more than I anticipated. Alas, I have the continuing saga of the Third War posted. I also want to state that now I am back stateside, My blog posts should be more consistent. Emphasis on "should".

Mexico's Responsibility in the Third War".

It is rumored and some will say it is documented and proved that the Mexican government willingly turned a blind eye to the activities of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel in the early 1980s while they conducted their drug trafficking business to the U.S. because everyone in Mexico was profiting. As long as there was large amounts of money coming in and no violence, no problem. Other up and coming drug cartels eventually saw the opportunity to profit from the same scheme and made their own deals with whatever government official was willing to make a quick Peso. Now officials are profiting from multiple cartels and making even more money. At that point there was no going back.
Because of the socio economics of Mexico where annual per capita income of the average upper middle class citizen is below the poverty level by American standards, any kind of financial gain from whatever source is tempting thus making bribery an easy source of supplemental income regardless of the ethics involved.
The Mexican Government is now fighting the Third War with its federal police forces and military. At the helm of this war is President Felipe Calderon. President Calderon has taken on the major drug cartels in an effort to rid Mexico of the scourge of drug trafficking that is tearing his country apart at every level of society. But as in any war, there is collateral damage. The collateral damage in this war are the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire and the economy of Mexico and cities where drug cartels have literally taken over. In many of the smaller and remote cities, drug cartel henchmen or “sicarios” have either killed or run off all officials out of the cities and taken over and have complete control of areas in an attempt to hold drug transport routes into the US and sea ports for narcotics export. In other areas of Mexico, entire police departments have literally quit or joined the cartels leaving the populace to fend for themselves. Drug cartels have literally gone straight to the top and killed mayors, police chiefs, cops, and other officials in a successful effort to intimidate anyone who may try to stop them or refused to take bribes. Therein lies the problem with accepting bribes. Once it becomes acceptable to receive bribes, it gradually becomes part of the culture and eventually morality and ethics fall secondary to the primary focus of profit. Once the briber has the upper hand, the penalty for refusing to accept a bribe is death.
The Mexican government has not exactly been innocent of guilt in the development of this war. Unfortunately, the Mexican culture has always had an unspoken acceptance of bribery to some degree. It is ingrained into the culture from the taco street vendor to the highest levels of government. A Peso for extra meat in your taco, to the extra $20 to the police to look the other way while the drugs go by a checkpoint. It's just a way of life in Mexico. It is this unspoken rule that the Mexican government has succumbed to and given the drug cartels the upper hand. Now that the drug cartels have amassed unimaginable profits, they can afford to buy off anyone. If the cartels encounter a rare official with integrity who refuses to accept a bribe, they just kill him or threaten his family to the point where he has no choice but to go along with the agreement or flee the country. Not only does that solve an immediate problem for the cartel, it also intimidates other officials who are willing to stand firm with their ethics. This is the battle the Mexican government is fighting within itself, routing out the corrupt officials that are negating the Calderon's efforts, It's no big secret that many high level government officials have been arrested for collaborating with the drug cartels and even being directly involved with the drug trade itself in one way or another. Being that drug cartel personnel have infiltrated every level of government, many government officials have been ruthlessly murdered for playing both sides of the line in an attempt to profit even more.
As of today, President Calderon and his government has made a noble attempt to curtail drug trafficking and cartel violence with the under staffed and under paid personnel that he has. But, until ALL Mexicans take a stand and dump the culture of bribery, it will be a continual uphill struggle to defeat any enemy it has created which is a major battle in itself.