As noted above, the Gente are based primarily in the northern state of Chihuahua. If the Gente Nueva are indeed behind the attack, this indicates that the Zetas are facing a new enemy in Veracruz. president Obama recently designated the Zetas as the target of sanctions under the Kingpin Act, allowing the Justice Department to seize the group's assets in the country. In early July the Mexican government formally announced that dismantling the group was the first priority of their security strategy, and U.S. Earlier this year, narcomantas signed by the Sinaloa, Gulf, and Familia gangs were hung around Mexico, declaring their intention to band together in a common front against the Zetas. The murders would appear to be a direct affront to their control of the “plaza," which is perhaps not surprising considering that the Zetas have come under increasing pressure in recent weeks. Like Nuevo Laredo, the city of Veracruz has traditionally been Zetas territory. Last week two individuals were killed and hung from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo, apparently for criticizing the Zetas on a popular blog which tracks organized crime. Thus, he may have been targeted for the public recognition he gained the Internet, offering another proof that what happens online can have real life consequences in Mexico's drug war. So far as is known, Ferra did not have anything like enough importance in the criminal world to merit being named in a narco banner as the cause of 35 deaths. Although his death has not been confirmed, Ferra was reportedly among those who escaped from prison on Monday. The video has received over 13 million hits on YouTube.
Interestingly, “El Ferras” is the alias of Felipe Ferra Gomez, an individual who became an Internet celebrity in 2008 after a video was posted online of him bragging to police about murdering an individual. There the group earned the reputation of being a bitter enemy of La Linea, a gang who serve as foot soldiers for Vicente Carrillo Fuentes’ Juarez Cartel. The banner’s mention of “G.N.” is a clear reference to the Gente Nueva, an enforcer gang which has been linked to Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias “ El Chapo.” Gente Nueva got their start working as hitmen for Guzman, and have been blamed for contributing to the violence in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.
In 2010, the state of Tamaulipas lost more than 350 inmates to jailbreaks, most of which were attributed to the Zetas. The jailbreak was blamed on the Zetas, for whom the activity is something of a specialty. Several of them were captured soon after, but 18 remained at large on Tuesday. Here lies "El Ferras" and his royal court.Īccording to state Attorney General Reynaldo Escobar Perez, several of the victims have been identified as possible escapees in a prison breakout that occurred on Monday, in which 32 inmates from three different prisons allegedly managed to overcome their guards and escape. This will happen to all those Zeta s- who remain in Veracruz. The men also left an ominous “narcomanta,” or drug banner, claiming that the victims had been killed for their allegiance to the Zetas: According to eyewitness accounts, an number of masked men had stopped traffic along the road around 5:00 p.m., pointing weapons at passersby as they opened up the gates of the truck beds before abandoning the vehicles. Motorists along the busy avenue of Ruiz Cortine in the Mexican port city of Veracruz encountered a gruesome roadblock on Tuesday afternoon: two abandoned pickup trucks, each carrying more than a dozen dead bodies. The bodies of 35 alleged Zetas members were left beneath an underpass in downtown Veracruz, south Mexico, in the latest sign that the group is taking a hit to its activities on the Gulf coast.