Corruption in Mexico
The Mexican culture in Mexico has faced many challenges in dealing with the drug cartel corruption of its own criminal justice system, from federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel as well as civilians. The corruption has impacted the culture by giving them false hope for protection and a felling of insecurity in trusting the system.
The cartels in Mexico have become increasingly powerful in recent years due to the demise of the cartels in Colombia. The cartels use personal enforcer gangs to perpetuate violence and intimidate Mexican citizens and public officials. The Gulf Cartel is considered to be the largest drug cartel in Mexico, maintaining territory in the Northern cities of Matamoras and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. They have established their own heavily armed enforcer gang, known as the Zetas. The Zetas are unique among drug enforcer gangs in that they operate “as a private army under the order of Cardenas Gulf cartel, the first time a drug lord has had his own paramilitary.” (Cook, 2007). They were created by a group in the late 1990’s. They were trained in the Unites States at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. There initial objective was to become highly trained and sent out to annihilate the most powerful Mexican drug cartels, however they deserted and became the muscle for every cartel they were sent out to destroy. With their sophisticated weaponry that they are allowed to carry allows them to dominate the drug trade in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Reports indicate that while the Zetas were initially comprised of members of the elite they now include federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel as well as civilians. (Cook, 2007).
The Zetas have many recruiting tactics, but the most recent one is the postings of wanted ads on billboards, and banners on overpasses. THE ZETAS WANT YOU! The Zetas are using the words of the most famous poster in the United Sates during World War...