concelos, announced on 24 June that as many as 30 former members of the Guatemalan Special Forces, called “Kaibiles”, had begun working with the Zetas, a group of former Mexican military commandos that work as assassins for the Gulf Cartel.

Kaibiles are considered the most ruthless of all soldiers who

The power of Mexican organized crime has dramatically increased this year, spreading its influence well beyond Mexico's borders. Now, elements from Central America's criminal underground have made de facto connections with at least two of Mexico's most notorious drug trafficking organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel.

These connections indicate a new injection of strength and ruthlessness into Mexican organized crime. And even as organized criminal networks grew stronger this year, Mexico's presidential candidates avoided talking about it during their campaigns, which has led many analysts to wonder if security is a priority for Mexican politicians.

The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels fight for control of Nuevo Laredo, considered the most valuable smuggling route into the US from Mexico. While fighting for land on the border continues, another battleground along Mexico’s Pacific coast has become a center of violence. Now signs of former Guatemalan special forces troops and Central American gang members from the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) network have led many to conclude that Mexican organized crime has hired new muscle.

Mexico’s Deputy Attorney General for Organized Crime, Jos? Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, announced on 24 June that as many as 30 former members of the Guatemalan Special Forces, called “Kaibiles”, had begun working with the Zetas, a group of former Mexican military commandos that work as assassins for the Gulf Cartel.

Kaibiles are considered the most ruthless of all soldiers who w

rtel and the Gulf Cartel.

These connections indicate a new injection of strength and ruthlessness into Mexican organized crime. And even as organized criminal networks grew stronger this year, Mexico's presidential candidates avoided talking about it during their campaigns, which has led many analysts to wonder if security is a priority for Mexican politicians.

The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels fight for control of Nuevo Laredo, considered the most valuable smuggling route into the US from Mexico. While fighting for land on the border continues, another battleground along Mexico’s Pacific coast has become a center of violence. Now signs of former Guatemalan special forces troops and Central American gang members from the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) network have led many to conclude that Mexican organized crime has hired new muscle.

Mexico’s Deputy Attorney General for Organized Crime, Jos? Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, announced on 24 June that as many as 30 former members of the Guatemalan Special Forces, called “Kaibiles”, had begun working with the Zetas, a group of former Mexican military commandos that work as assassins for the Gulf Cartel.

Kaibiles are considered the most ruthless of all soldiers who

o wonder if security is a priority for Mexican politicians.

The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels fight for control of Nuevo Laredo, considered the most valuable smuggling route into the US from Mexico. While fighting for land on the border continues, another battleground along Mexico’s Pacific coast has become a center of violence. Now signs of former Guatemalan special forces troops and Central American gang members from the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) network have led many to conclude that Mexican organized crime has hired new muscle.

Mexico’s Deputy Attorney General for Organized Crime, Jos? Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, announced on 24 June that as many as 30 former members of the Guatemalan Special Forces, called “Kaibiles”, had begun working with the Zetas, a group of former Mexican military commandos that work as assassins for the Gulf Cartel.

Kaibiles are considered the most ruthless of all soldiers who

a center of violence. Now signs of former Guatemalan special forces troops and Central American gang members from the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) network have led many to conclude that Mexican organized crime has hired new muscle.

Mexico’s Deputy Attorney General for Organized Crime, Jos? Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, announced on 24 June that as many as 30 former members of the Guatemalan Special Forces, called “Kaibiles”, had begun working with the Zetas, a group of former Mexican military commandos that work as assassins for the Gulf Cartel.

Kaibiles are considered the most ruthless of all soldiers who

concelos, announced on 24 June that as many as 30 former members of the Guatemalan Special Forces, called “Kaibiles”, had begun working with the Zetas, a group of former Mexican military commandos that work as assassins for the Gulf Cartel.

Kaibiles are considered the most ruthless of all soldiers who were trained to fight insurgencies during the civil wars that ravaged Central America in the 1980s. Since the end of the war in Guatemala, Kaibiles have been used to train members of the Mexican special forces. Mexican authorities consider this connection to be the principle reason why rogue Kaibiles have sought out their former students, now members of the Zetas, for employment within Mexico’s criminal underworld.

This added force to the Gulf Cartel’s ranks of assassins indicates that the violence sustained by battling the Sinaloa Cartel has forced the organization to look beyond Mexico for highly trained killers.

Perhaps less professional but just as deadly are members of the MS-13 gang, a network that expands from cities in Central America, through Mexico, and into dozens of urban centers throughout the US. The MS-13 is known throughout the region as an extremely vicious street gang, reserving the most severe measures to discipline its own members. Recent violence in Mexico’s Pacific resort town, Acapulco, indicates that the MS-13 may have grown beyond street gang status, working now as muscle for the Sinaloa Cartel.

On 24 June, Mexican authorities found four bodies in Acapulco. One victim had been b