Mexico Security Memo

Mexico Security Memo: Striking Los Zetas in the Northeast

Operation Northern Lynx

On Aug. 5, the Mexican government concluded Operation Northern Lynx, a military action targeting the leadership, operations and logistics structures of cartels and criminal gangs in the northeastern states of San Luis Potosi, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. The operation began July 16 and involved 4,000 Mexican military personnel, 722 vehicles and 23 aircraft across the four states. According to the Mexican military, the operation resulted in the release of 12 kidnapping victims, the arrest of 196 people with suspected cartel ties and the seizure of 1,217 weapons, 3.3 tons of marijuana, 260 vehicles and 188 communications devices. The three-week-long operation also resulted in a notable number of important Los Zetas leaders killed or captured.

Northern Lynx is consistent with the Mexican government’s recent focus on specifically targeting the most violent criminal groups and drug cartels — the Los Zetas in the northeast but also La Familia Michoacana and the Knights Templar elsewhere in the country. An increase in cooperation, especially on intelligence gathering, between the United States and Mexico may have enhanced the effectiveness of this operation. This cooperation garnered a great deal of attention after an Aug. 6 report by The New York Times, citing the Mexican ambassador to the United States and a number of unnamed U.S. officials, characterized the collaboration as a relatively new development, having only coalesced for a few weeks. In fact, the collaboration has a much longer history. It has included intelligence gathering by U.S. security personnel posted at an undisclosed Mexican military base (among other places), and the training of Mexican military and law enforcement personnel at facilities in the United States and in Mexico. Although Operation Northern Lynx did not force Los Zetas to surrender territory, the losses sustained by their leadership and their logistics infrastructure will not be easily replaced. If U.S. cooperation on intelligence gathering with the Mexican military continues, Los Zetas may be forced to pull back from certain areas.


At least 30 Zetas were killed during the course of the operation, the most prominent being Jorge Luis “El Pompin” de la Pena Brizuela, the purported leader of Los Zetas in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas state, just across the border from Laredo, Texas. De la Pena Brizuela was killed Aug. 2. On the same day, the army detained Valdemar “El Adal” Quintanilla Soriano, the suspected No. 2 financial operator for Los Zetas, and his assistant Jose Guadalupe “El Dos” Yanez Martinez, in Saltillo, Coahuila state. Yanez Martinez was in possession of more than 6 million pesos ($512,800) at the time of his capture. In the capital city of San Luis Potosi, two more leading Zetas were captured — Rafael “El Iguano” Salmeron Rodriguez, the reported leader of San Luis Potosi plaza, and Jose Angel “El Cheche” Zapata Pantoja, the reported head of administrative activities in the state.

The number of ordinary foot soldiers killed during this operation was not particularly high. However, the elimination of so many leaders, especially as Los Zetas are fighting on multiple fronts against other cartels and the military, will be difficult for the group to replace (particularly in light of their other losses over the past two years). Most of the original Zetas — founded by former Mexican special operations forces — have already been captured or killed. While Los Zetas still actively recruit soldiers from the Mexican and Guatemalan military, they have not been able to do so at the rate they are losing them. According to information drawn from the interrogation of Jesus “El Mamito” Rejon after the senior Zeta member’s July 3 arrest, Los Zetas are also having a difficult time acquiring weapons, which, if true, could be extremely damaging to the group’s long-term survival.

Los Zetas are under pressure, but this has not prevented the group from attempting to expand its reach. They continue to push into areas not under their control such as in Pedro Escobedo, Queretaro state, where they are believed to have left a narcomanta stating “We have arrived” signed “Z” on July 31. However, this outreach may actually have been an attempt to take some of the pressure off of their home base by diverting the resources and attention of rival cartels and the government. If the group continues sustaining losses as they did during Operation Northern Lynx and if they continue to have problems recruiting and training new gunmen, they will likely be forced to start making decisions on which areas to drawdown their thinly-stretched forces.

U.S. Involvement in the Cartel War

The United States has long assisted the Mexican government by sharing the intelligence it acquires on the cartels, but more recently it has expanded this role to include intelligence gathering and helping plan countercartel operations with Mexican authorities. Although U.S. officials declined to provide specifics on their activities, the unit stationed on the Mexican base (it is unclear which one) reportedly consists of U.S. military personnel, CIA operatives and Drug Enforcement Administration agents. This unit has been compared to “intelligence fusion centers” that the United States operates in Afghanistan and Iraq which monitor militant groups and support the host country’s security forces. Past reports have identified similar bi-national fusion centers in Mexico City and Juarez. However, this physical presence is only one part of the assistance provided by the United States. It has also been providing tactical and intelligence training to Mexican security forces at facilities both in the United States and in Mexico for some time.

U.S. assistance will certainly enhance Mexico’s intelligence gathering capabilities against the cartels while also providing the United States with valuable on-the-ground intelligence from its Mexican partners. Nonetheless, trust remains an area of concern for both parties. Although the Mexican members of the particular units working closely with the Americans were likely thoroughly vetted to ensure they have not been corrupted (or as well vetted as can be done in Mexico), it is unlikely that the personnel of the entire base where the unit is stationed has been subjected to the same level of scrutiny. Out of concerns that U.S. intelligence sources, tactics or technology could make its way back to the cartels, the United States is probably exercising extreme caution in what it provides Mexican authorities. As for Mexico, U.S. assistance — however desperately needed — is always eyed warily due to historic sensitivities about U.S. military activity.

Involvement in intelligence gathering is still a far cry from deploying U.S. ground forces in Mexico, which is extremely unlikely in the foreseeable future. Only a major attack on U.S. soil by a cartel or significant spillover violence along the border would be likely to prompt such a move. Still, increased intelligence cooperation and training is an escalation of U.S. involvement in Mexico’s cartel war. Mexican cartels have been mindful of the example of the Guadalajara cartel which drew the ire of the United States with the 1985 torture and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. The United States took unilateral action that resulted in the decapitation and destruction of the Guadalajara cartel. However, retaliation by the cartels cannot be ruled out — particularly if they continue taking hits as Los Zetas did in Operation Northern Lynx.


Read more: Mexico Security Memo: Striking Los Zetas in the Northeast | STRATFOR
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not dream related.

Other Topics

Topics that do not fall into any other section. Themes that are generally not pertinent to the DREAM Act and its beneficiaries.

it's called moving to the right section. You'll get the jist of things noob don't worry.

my bad, you are right

Not my fault; your post should have been deleted to avoid exactly your name calling bullshit. Why don't you go ahead and call the mod who failed to do this a noob? God damned BBnazis...

I don't know wtf u talking 'bout bro, shit was moved after my post and then you bitched about it being in the right section (after it had been moved from my advice). Might wanna dig deep for a bigger set of balls next time if you're gonna get all butt hurt.

You are expecting me to assume that I knew that this was posted in the incorrect section, it's not my problem that you nor the the mod cared to delete your post, 'bro'. I make a remark and you get terribly offended and retort by calling me a noob; looks like it's you who needs the bigger set of balls

Shut up noob. Don't get IUF started boy!

terrible trolling attempt

disappointed

-1