Drug cartel enforcers reportedly getting high-caliber training

LAREDO - The U.S. government is warning police and Border Patrol agents that rogue Guatemalan commandos may be training Mexican drug cartel gunmen on a ranch across the border from McAllen.

illegal immigration, gangs, crimes, security, zetas, ms13, ms 13

The July 28 intelligence alert from the Department of Homeland Security is unsubstantiated, but officials said they now routinely circulate such reports if they can't rule them out.

The alert says that about 30 men once part of the Guatemalan "Kaibiles" special forces unit are reported to be training members of the Zetas, a paramilitary enforcement arm of the Matamoros-based Gulf Cartel, between Rio Bravo and Villa Hermosa in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

"The Zetas alone are a formidable group and pose an ominous threat," according to the six-page warning obtained by the San Antonio Express-News. "If this information is substantiated, the addition of former or rogue Guatemala 'Kaibiles' soldiers may only worsen this threat."

It continued: "The purpose of this alert is to inform Border Patrol agents about possible Zeta activities and how it may affect [the patrol's] operations and safety."

The warning was circulated as a precaution, federal officials said. It could be a false alarm, but even far-fetched stories have sometimes turned out to be true in Mexico's ongoing drug cartel clashes.

In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, the dead this year include a police chief, a city council member and an undetermined number of police officers.

In one night, police rescued 44 kidnapped people and then quickly detained them on suspicion of working for drug gangs. The entire Nuevo Laredo police force was suspended and disarmed for a time and 41 officers arrested after a clash with Mexican federal agents.

The warning says former members of Guatemalan "counter-guerrilla special forces" may have been recruited by the Zetas to "aid in the conduct of illegal activities in Mexico and the United States."

http://www.alipac.us/article-640-thread-1-0.html