FROM GREEN BERETS TO LOS ZETAS AND THE CIA SHADOW WAR

0:00 Many of you have probably already heard about the stories where Zetta's cartel was created after they got trained by the Green Berets. So we're gonna look at this story really quickly and see what happened during that whole thing. THO Thozettas Cartels one of Mexico's most notorious criminal organization.

0:19 It was founded by former members of the Millicson military, specifically elite soldiers from the group called Grupo Adimoviile that forts specialist the Mexico's Airborne Special Forces. These individuals were trained by US special forces, primarily the US Army Special Forces Green Berets. So we're gonna find out what happened there.

0:41 In the nineties, the US sought to bolster bolster Mexico's ability to combat drug cartels and rising cocaine trafficking on a bilateral agreement, so the US provided military training the Mexican Special Force, which to create elite units capable of counter narcotic operations. The GAFF, the Special Forces from Mexico, established in nineteen eighty six and expanded in the nineties, was a primary recipient due to its role in high risk missions. The purpose was to train Mexican forces again encounter drug tactics, including urban warfare, reconnaissance and HVT framework.

1:13 Training occurred under the US Mexico Military Assistance Program with support from the US Department of Defense, the DoD and the DEA, often coordinated through southcomb The seventh Special Forces Group Airborne, based at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, was the primary US unit responsible for training the Mexican GAFF members. The seventh Special Forces Group specializes in Latin America and has a long history of foreign internal defense missions.

1:40 The FID training and allied militaries as well to counter internal threats. It took place in North Carolina and Fort Bragg now it's called for Liberty. Curriculum included advanced infantry tactic as marksmanship, counterinsurgency, intelligence gathering, and airborne operations. Some sources mentioned specialized courses and close quarters battle and anti terrorism.

2:03 The training program varied, ranging from weeks to months, with some GAFF members attending extended courses. While the seventh SFG was the lead, other units like the US Armies John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg also provided instructional support. There was no evidence at least that I could find of Navy seals directly training them, even though the seals later supported counter narcotic operations in the region.

2:28 In the late nineteen nineties, GAS soldiers trained by the US were recruited by the Golf Cartel as enforcers due to their elite skills. This is where the transition came. These defectors, led by figures like Autotuto Descenta z One, formed Lozettas around nineteen ninety seven to ninety nine, initially as the Golf Cartel's armed wing. The US provided training gave them a tactical edge, making Lozettas uniquely dangerous. Attitudo des Senta, a GAFF lieutenant trained in Fort Bragg, founded Lozettas and applied military tactics to cartel operations. El Lazka headi Beetito los Condo, another GAFF member, became Azzetta's leader, leveraging his training and discipline. Logistics estimates suggest thirty to

3:07 two hundred GAFF soldiers defected, but the numbers vary quite a bit. Mozette has used ambushes, convoys, and coordinated assaults. Unlike typical cartel thighs, they employed encryptied radios and night vision goggles. Reflecting the techniques that they learned, they mimic military intelligence cells, intercepting police communications and running informants. Some of the other things that they use were brutality. Their training in psychological warfare also amplified their use of terror like public executions to control territory. The impact that this all had is by the two thousands, Lozettas broke from the Gulf cartel, becoming an independent syndicate. Their military precision fuel their expansion into extortion, human trafficking, and territorial wars.

3:53 In some of the information that I learned, the US government reports from the two thousands that you found you can find on the re Leaked and Weekly. It included congressional hearings in US Mexico cooperation that confirmed the seventh sfg's role in training gap and a two thousand and nine US cable noted the zeta's problem stemming from US trained defectors. Mexican military officials like General Robeo acknowledged gaps US training, though corruption scandals Robeo's cartel ties complicated the oversight.

4:25 There's a lot of posts on X mentioning those zeta's origins, exaggerating US involvement. Of course, always throwing in the CIA because you can't verify almost anything the CIA does because it's classified, so it's easy to make up stories and they can't defend themselves, so people tend to do that a lot. Doesn't mean they haven't done weird things. But at the same time, we'll look at soon Operation Nighthawk, but there's not much on information about it, where the soft community targeted the Cali cartel to some degree. But why did it all happen? Well, Mexico's military suffered from systemic corruption. That's one of the reasons that you had those ztus development. With poor vetting of GAFS recruits as well.

5:04 The US relied on Mexican authorities to vet these individuals to screen the trainees, and they missed a hell of a lot of red flags or did they? Cartel incentives The golf cartel offered salaries for exceeding military pay. For example, the gas were making five hundred to seven hundred and fifty dollars a month. The cartels were supposedly offering them over fifty thousand dollars a month, So that's a lot that's a huge difference. It's not even ten times, it's one hundred times more. So think about it. That's a lot of money. If you're making one hundred thousand here, you're gonna be making ten million. Boy. The US aim to strengthen Mexico's anti cartel capacity, but the skills transferre repurposed for criminal ends a risk inherent in these FID missions.

5:49 So you can see here the changers of how a US military training program inadvertently empowered a cartel, prompting of course, later cias off involvement to counter the Zeta's threat, things that hopefully they will learn for next time. As a bonus, we'll talk a little bit about how the CIA tracked Lozettas the CIA was employed, they employed a range of intelligence techniques to monitor Lozetta's cartel, often in collaboration with the DEA, NSA, and Mexican authorities. They use SIGENT, which is signals intelligence. The CIA, likely with NSA support, intercepted of lose Zeta's communications, including cell phones, radio chatter, and encrypted messages. You see the Zeta's use sophisticated systems next

6:36 Tel push to talk phones, but US technology could crack or GEO could crack or GEO locate signals. Examples of twenty ten operation to capture Zeta's leader at a Meto Losgano, Alaska reportedly relied on sigeant to track his movements in Coohila, though he escaped. The CIA provided real time intercepts to Mexican Marine semar who led the raid, drones and surveillance.

6:58 The CIA operated unmanned vehicles UAVs like Predator drones over Mexico with Mexican government approval. These also provided intelligence and tracking that as convoys or safehouses. In a Washington Post report to confirm US drone supported Mexico's anti cartel efforts, with CIA analysts processing data to pinpoints Zata's logistic hubs.

7:18 The CIA also used humans. The CIA recruited informants within or nears thoseetas, including low level operatives, corrupt officials, or rival cartel members. For example, in twenty twelve, the capture Zetta's leader Miguel Trevino Morales by Mexican marines relied on human likely a CIA sourced, identifying his travel patterns. It leaked US embassy cable mentioned CI efforts to cultivate conformance in Wuebbel Laredo, a Zeta stronghold. Undercover operations were also used by CIA, possibly from the Special Activity Center, operated covertly in Mexico, posing as businessmen or diplomats to gather intelligence at border cities like Suda, Juarez and Monterey. Zeta retaliated by going against snitches and committing public executions, which

8:08 made human much riskier. The CIA worked with trusted Mexican units, particularly the Mexican Navy's Marine Seymar, who were less corrupt than police or army units, and they guided the SEMAR raids on Zeta's attacks. The example of Dabetta Loscano and the killing of him in Coolheila was a SEMAR operation, but US intelligence and likely CIA driven hugion centers were also incorporated. The CIA helped establish intelligence sharing hubs in Mexico City and Monterey, where US and Mexican analysts cross reference data. An A Royal's article had described US funded fusion centers where CIA officers embedded to analyze Data's operations, including that the US sanctioned Zeta's money laundering operations, freezing

8:50 assets linked to front businesses in Texas and Panama and Finally, they used ocentse cyber and open source intelligence. An example was a Zeta massacre in San Fernando, tam Alipas was pieced together via OCENT, helping the CIA correlate attack patterns with leadership movements. They likely monitored Zea's online activities, including social media and dark web forums, where they coordinated trafficking or recruitment. Zeta's use of platforms like Twitter for propaganda provided exploitable data. So a lot of it's really gathering intelligence from the use of the CIA, A lot of the sources coming from news articles, a lot of it from media and think tanks like Stratford or Inside Crime. Also, declassified and leaked documents from the wiki leaks in congressional reports.

9:37 As about as much as we can really give. That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this little narrative on the Green Berets in the Little Zetta's Cartel