Have you ever heard of Los Zetas?

 Maybe you are asking, “Should I have heard of Los Zetas?” And the answer is a resounding, “YES!”

 But perhaps the real question is, “Why haven’t I heard of Los Zetas?”  And while that’s a dangerous question to ask a cynic, its a valid one that demands an answer.

 First, you need to know what Los Zetas is. Los Zetas is potentially the most powerful gang in all of. . .nope, not just central Mexico, not just all of Mexico, but all of North America.

 Los Zetas is thought to head the Gulf Cartel, which also controls the distribution of cocaine and other drugs and black market items through much of the region.

But these are not just a bunch organized crooks - they are scarily much more than that. “The Zetas were originally members of the Mexican Army’s elite Airborne Special Forces Group (GAFE), trained in locating and apprehending drug cartel members. It is believed that they were originally trained at the military School of the Americas in the United States. Also, they were trained by foreign specialists, including Americans, French, and Israelis, in rapid deployment, aerial assaults, marksmanship, ambushes, small-group tactics, intelligence collection, counter-surveillance techniques, prisoner rescues and sophisticated communications.“

But it gets worse, much worse.

“Los Zetas have set up camps in which to train recruits as well as ex-federal, state, and local police officers. In addition, they have invited into their ranks ex-troops from Guatemala known as Kaibiles.

 The group is extremely well armed, they wear body armor and some wear Kevlar ballistic helmets; their arsenal includes AR-15 and AK-47 assault rifles, MP5 submachine guns, 50 cal. machine guns, grenade launchers, ground-to-air missiles, dynamite and helicopters. They are known to operate with modern wiretapping equipment and purchase the cellular phone codes of their intended targets directly from the phone companies and providers. 

Los Zetas is known to operate with a higher tactical degree than the local authorities. During one shootout against law enforcement the group employed grenade launchers and 50 cal. machine guns.” And in case you didn’t know, 50 cal. machine guns load bullets that are nearly 6 inches long prior to firing!  It makes complete sense that with these tactics and weapons they are also one of the most brutal killing organizations around, known for gruesomely torturing their victims.

(If you want to see the rest, here is Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 , and Part 5.  The entire documentary is 45 minutes long.)

 Whether you watched the opening segment or not, this disturbing phrase from one of the speakers should sound some serious “alarmage”: “The Zetas have more capability than Al Qaeda does today to operate inside the United States.”

More capability than Al Qaeda. . .and so the question should come back to the forefront of your mind: Why haven’t I heard of Los Zetas?  After all, for all the talk of Middle Eastern and Islamic terrorism, the United States has been virtually mum on this entire issue or at least in comparison to all the coverage of the Middle East. And yet, the documentary will later state that Los Zetas has the ability to carry out contract killings in nearly any major city within the United States in less than 72 hours.

Al Qaeda? Shouldn’t Los Zetas be top priority?

This article from June 2005 discusses how Los Zetas were already starting to become a serious threat in the Southwestern United States.  Ironic how four years after 9/11 and just two years after the start of the Iraq War we were still fighting a virtually unknown enemy thousands of miles away, when we had a known one inside our own borders.  Now their network has run full-course having penetrated well within the continental U.S having been paid far less attention during these last several years, even though some officials thought they wouldn’t be a factor in the U.S.  Guess again. . .

So the next time someone talks about terrorism in the Middle East, ask them about terrorism in Texas, and when they raise their eyebrows with a puzzled look, don’t be surprised. . .

- IgniteTheMind