Nuevo Laredo nears anarchy as Mexican drug gang rules with fear

Olga R. Rodriguez:

Zooming around in sport-utility vehicles bristling with weapons, Mexican soldiers-turned-drug hit men have taken this border city to the brink of anarchy, infiltrating local police and threatening anyone who gets in their way.

Residents and law enforcement officials say the men are the feared Zetas, former members of a military intelligence battalion sent to the border to fight drug trafficking. Instead, they joined the Gulf cartel, one of Mexico's top drug gangs. They adopted the name Zetas -- a radio code for a military commander -- recruited followers and made the city of 300,000 their home base.

For the past two years, the city of tree-covered plazas and hacienda-style restaurants has lived in a state of siege. Many residents are afraid to leave their homes at night, and few tourists venture over from Laredo, Texas, leaving the city's handful of horse-drawn buggies idle.

Killings and police corruption became so brazen that President Vicente Fox was forced to send in hundreds of soldiers and federal agents in March, and the only man brave enough to take the job of police chief was gunned down hours after he was sworn in this month.

Since then, soldiers and federal agents have flooded the streets, patrolling in trucks and setting up checkpoints. Still, daytime street killings are commonplace.

José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico's top drug prosecutor, said the Zetas were recruited by Osiel Cárdenas, the alleged leader of the Gulf cartel, during the late 1990s when their unit was posted to the border state of Tamaulipas.

At the time, there were 30 Zetas who defected, Vasconcelos said, and they have since recruited other men from the drug ranks and expanded.

After Cárdenas' arrest in 2003, accused drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán sensed weakness and tried to move in on Nuevo Laredo, unleashing a bloody turf war with the Zetas that has transformed the city.

Since January, more than 70 people have been killed in Nuevo Laredo, compared with 65 for all of 2004.

The Zetas rule with fear, threatening police and city officials and extorting money from businesses, including restaurants, car dealerships and junkyards.

"They came and intimidated anyone who had influence or power in this city," said a businessman who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. "They made it clear they owned the city."

They sometimes set up roadblocks to stop motorists when they suspected rivals were in the area, the businessman said.

Nuevo Laredo is the busiest trade area along the U.S.-Mexico border, with an average of 6,000 cargo trucks crossing daily into Texas carrying 40 percent of Mexico's exports.

Just across the Rio Grande is Interstate 35, a main north-south artery. It's a doorway to the United States for millions of dollars of legal and illegal goods.

It is also the most coveted drug-smuggling route on the border, according to Mexican officials.

While drug trafficking is nothing new to Nuevo Laredo, the Zetas took things from bad to worse. They kidnap people for ransom and charge "fees" to migrant smugglers and other drug traffickers. They often kill those who refuse to pay, officials say.

"The gangs that were here before would kill each other, but now they don't respect anything or anyone," said Lázaro Alferez, a retiree who spends his afternoons in a downtown plaza. "I come out to the street, but I'm always afraid that I could get hit by a stray bullet."

The Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Mañana in 2003 published a citizens guide to detecting false officers after people started noticing armed men dressed like soldiers or police in the streets -- really the Zetas.

"They use the same uniforms and insignia as law enforcement, although some have the names and/or insignia of organizations that no longer exist," the guide read. "They usually carry a sidearm with no visible badges or IDs. If they have an ID, it is usually a fake."

Nuevo Laredo's mayor said Tuesday 150 officers will be fired

Violent Anarchy in Mexico's Gateway to the U.S.

Amid the killing fields of Nuevo Laredo