NR: "This is an LA street
gang on steroids, with real training, real expertise.
This is the ultimate law enforcement nightmare."
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Length: 4:49
LARGE (55.9 MB)
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SMALL (5.9 MB)
Don Lemon showed the piece on
"Los Zetas" from Wednesday, followed by a live
Q&A with Michael from Mexico City.
DON LEMON:
CNN's Michael Ware joins us now from Mexico City.
So, Michael, tell us about these Los Zetas. Where do
they come from? Who are they? Is there -- is there a
comparable term here in the U.S., maybe like the
Green Berets?
MICHAEL WARE: Well, that's it precisely, Don. I mean,
essentially, these guys were made of a group of
Mexican Green Berets, who deserted the military in
the 1990s. So if you can possibly imagine an outfit,
a platoon of American Green Berets go rogue and like
here with the Zetas, they then offer their services
as enforcers to a drug cartel.
Now, that was in the 90s. Since then, Los Zetas have
grown. They developed more muscle. They developed an
intelligence network that rivals almost any military
organization operating in this country. And
originally, they were providing security services to
one of the major cartels known as the Gulf Cartel.
Well, just a couple of years ago, Los Zetas turned
around and said to themselves, hang on, why are we
taking orders?
And so what we've seen in the last two or three years
is Los Zetas have stepped up themselves and they've
become a cartel in their own right. And as the Drug
Enforcement Agency says, they're the bloodiest,
they're the most sophisticated, they're the most
brutal and, by far and away, Los Zetas are the most
fearsome cartel in Mexico.
Don?
LEMON: Well, that brings us to this question then.
What is their relationship, if they have any, with
other cartels? Or do they think they're going to take
over the entire place there? They're going to take
over Mexico and become the only cartel?
WARE: Well, every cartel has that aspiration. They'd
certainly love to dominate this business. For that's
what it is, Don. This is a multibillion dollar
business that operates here in Mexico supplying
America with its demand of elicit drugs.
Now, Los Zetas don't have a chance of monopolizing
this entire industry. I mean, there's essentially
seven large cartels. I mean, there's a whole
proliferation and there's alliances within alliances.
There's double-dealing. There's betrayals. But by and
large, we have these major factions that are
constantly brawling and battling it out for control
of this business.
And indeed, on average just this year alone, 570
Mexicans have been dying every single month. But by
and large, that's cartel on cartel violence. That
does not, of course, exclude the possibilities like
we see far too often here -- the target may be a
cartel member sitting in a restaurant, but when the
hit team comes in that restaurant, they just spray it
full of bullets and the family sitting next to the
target gets killed as well, Don.
LEMON: Oh, boy, that's unfortunate. You said in your
story there, Michael, that, you know, the Zetas
openly recruit members of the Mexican military. What
about the government? What do they have to say? Do
they have the power, the will, the resources to fight
against the Zetas?
WARE: Listen, Washington doesn't have the power or
the will or the resources to fight against Los Zetas.
What do you think the Mexican government can do?
As the recruitment openly says in posters and
banners, by word of mouth, "we offer better pay, we
offer better benefits, you've got much greater chance
of promotion, a much greater career."
It's a very appealing option. And let's not forget,
they're recruiting not just soldiers and currently
serving members of the military, but even teenagers
and kids from the barrio. Now, another cartel will
just put an M16 in their hand and send them off.
What Los Zetas do is classic Green Beret techniques.
You train the trainer. A Green Beret teaches a
recruit how to be a Green Beret, and then teaches
that recruit how to teach others how to be a Green
Beret.
That's why you have the Drug Enforcement Agency, the
man in Washington whose directing America's fight
here against Los Zetas saying to me, the Los Zetas
operate more like an American infantry company
walking the streets of Fallujah in Iraq than they do
any kind of criminal network.
This is an LA street gang on steroids, with real
training, real expertise. This is the ultimate law
enforcement nightmare, Don.
LEMON: All right. CNN's Michael Ware. Michael, we're
talking about billions and billions of dollars a year
with drug cartel money, upwards of $40 billion. We
appreciate you joining us, Michael. Stay safe.
WARE: Thank you, Don.