Our Future?

Ok so the Sinaloa Cartel is reputed to be Mexico‘s oldest and most powerful criminal organization while the Zetas are newer, decidedly more vicious and determined to take over the territory once comfortably held by the Sinaloas. The Zetas once served as the muscle for another cartel, the Gulf but they broke off because they wanted a bigger piece of the pie…what pie you ask? Oh just that area along the Gulfcoast of Mexico which extends into CENTRAL AMERICA…or what just happens to be our country of Belize.  The irony is that many of the members of the Zetas are ex military once charged with protecting the people they now terrorize. Members include deserters of Mexico’s elite airborne special services and Guatemala‘s Kaibiles,  a special unit trained by the US. Yes, I said the US. The other members come from the Sinaloa Cartel itself, former members of the Beltran Leyvas, an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel. These members  believed that Guzman, Sinaloan head honcho, ratted out their top commander Alfredo Beltran Leyvas and his successor Arturo Beltran Leyvas.

Greeeeaat.

Now we have the perfect recipe  for extreme cruelty and mayhem: military training, desire and greed for more territory and an intense need for revenge. Before the Zetas entered the picture, the Sinaloa Cartel kept things calm. They had a place in society and were reluctant to stir things up as it were. They were unwilling to attract attention to their criminal activity. The Zetas? They don’t care so much. They make grand statements of intent making their presence firmly felt with very aggressive acts such as beheadings and multiple massacres, often piling up the bodies  in central plazas. Since they have entered the drug business, murders have quadrupled. Yes, that’s 4x more than before. And the problem is they don’t care who they kill. Often, innocent people are caught up in the fracas. Anyone who is suspected to be of the Sinaloa Cartel or if you happen to be related to one of its associates, you are fair game for attack in this bid for control of territory, which brings me to my point: Now that these business men, John Zabaneh, Dion Zabaneh and Daniel Moreno have been identified by the US as associates of Sinaloa Cartel, have they been marked with a big bulls eye on their backs? What about their families? Will the Zetas see a point of weakness and attempt to infiltrate and make this territory theirs? One of their favourite tactics used to announce their presence is kidnapping. Who wants to live with that constant fear that you will just be scooped up and used as a pawn in someone else’s game? And these days? They done gone hi-tech. The threats are often sent via email. Wow.

We, as a nation, have been playing with fire for over 30 years. Is it time that we collectively get burned? I better start seeing an increased US military presence in that case ’cause ahm…they kinda got us into this mess………alright, alright! People like the Zabanehs did but the US revealing their names to world and most importantly, the Zeta/Sinaloa world, made our tiny, under-defended, under- prepared nation a giant berry ripe for the pickin’.