A QUOTE that sums it up

"One more message, dirtbags, so that you learn to respect."
Note attached to the severed heads of policemen/soldiers found in front of government buildings in Acapulco Mexico. Courtesy of Z.

Comments

[empiresfall]

It's a good thing the Mexican police force is so concerned about catching Z's. Maybe this will wake them up from their torpor.

Or not. They'll probably just do a few lines and talk excitedly about what tough counter-narcoterroristas they are. Police efficiency down there is at an all time high, and it makes one wonder how many of them have black balaclavas in the closet.

[Cavolonero]

Out of the night,
When the full moon is bright,
Comes a horseman known as Zorro.
This bold renegade
Carves a "Z" with his blade,
A "Z" that stands for Zorro.

Zorro...
The Fox, so cunning and free.
Zorro...
Who makes the sign of the "Z."
(Zorro)

He is polite, but the wicked take flight
When they catch the sight of Zorro.
He's a friend to the weak
And the poor and the meek,
This very unique Señor Zorro.

[Veteran]

Seems like the cops have lost their monopoly of force on the streets.

[Tangurena]

Since this is happening on the run up to the elections in Mexico, I'd call this a campaign dirty trick of some sort. I don't know all the parties involved, so I can't parse the meaning, and amusing features of Mexico's laws include prohibit polling in the week prior to the election, as well as no second term for the president. Interesting times, bro, interesting times.

[John Robb]

Z is for the Zetas.

[Cavolonero]

The Zetas are the central focus of a small Internet cult called ZetaTalk, which was founded by Nancy Lieder in the 1990s. Lieder claims that she channels messages from the Zetas through an implant in her brain, and that they warned her of a catastrophe that was supposed to wipe out most of humanity on or after May 15, 2003. However, the predicted disaster has not occurred.

[Cavolonero]

Los Zetas are Ex- Army Special forces, regular troopers, police agents and common criminals who work for Osiel Cardenas in the drug trafficking business. Some have received special-forces training under the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, Georgia [1]. The members with military backgrounds can be considered mercenaries working for Mexican drug cartels. The name Zeta, comes from the Code Z 1/ 2... used by the police (which it means person in charge of the territory "plaza")

....And the letter "Z" which means he lives

[Duncan Kinder]

The Los Angeles Times article "Deadly homeboys make a new home in El Salvador," describes how deportees to El Salvador from the United States turn to gang life:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-pollack11jul11,0,852279.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

It concludes:

" Murder seemed to be the ultimate way of promoting gang identity and a sense of belonging. It also seemed to make life more interesting. If you are in a permanent state of war with a sworn enemy, a mundane life is made more dramatic."

At issue is to what extent the transnational world we appear to be evolving into will this sort of Social Darwinist nightmare and to what extent, instead, it might resemble a revival of the Hanseatic League.

If this article is correct, then gang members turn to violence almost for kicks. To make their lives less mundane.

Which suggests, in turn, that making their lives less mundane is a necessary ingedient of any effort to make a transnational global guerrilla society one that also is civil.