The Mexican state of Tamaulipas, located on the border with the United States, has always been a highly coveted territory for the Sinaloa cartel. Its strategic location provides immediate access to the US market. This desire sparked a war between Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the founder of the Sinaloa cartel, and Heriberto Lazcano “El Z-40” or “El Lazca,” one of the most ruthless drug lords in Mexico’s history.
“Lazcano is like Nero: he’d rather see the country in flames than lose the war against El Chapo Guzmán or the government that defends him…he belongs to a generation of fearless narcotraffickers who have turned Mexico into a graveyard,” wrote journalist Anabel Hernández in her book “Los señores del narco.”
The Bloody War for Control
The war between the two cartels for territorial control began in 2002 and became increasingly brutal. The security consulting firm Stratfor detailed in its 2012 annual report that the Zetas, a group of military deserters known for their savage methods and extreme cruelty (credited with the initiation of dismemberment and body dissolution), had a presence in 17 states, while the Sinaloa cartel operated in 16.
Tamaulipas, located in northeastern Mexico, shares a 400-kilometer border with the United States, making it a crucial sector for the transfer of drugs from Central America. This sector was initially under the control of the Zetas, who had taken refuge in the city of Nuevo Laredo. However, an alliance between the Gulf Cartel (displaced from the region by the Zetas) and El Chapo Guzmán turned this area into a battleground.
El Lazca and His Multiple Faces
Lazcano, born in 1974 in Hidalgo, joined the Mexican army in the 1990s. About eight years later, after reaching the rank of corporal, he retired to join a group of hitmen responsible for protecting the leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cárdenas. Lazcano’s cruelty was such that, according to the testimonies of some of his lieutenants, he would throw some of his victims to the wild animals he kept on one of his estates.
Other accounts mention that Lazcano’s men forced some of their victims to fight each other to death for sheer entertainment. Not to mention his fondness for cooking his rivals and serving them in traditional dishes to the followers of his criminal organization.
After breaking ties with the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas established themselves as one of the two major drug trafficking organizations, intensifying their rivalry with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel, according to the US security consulting firm Stratfor.
In 2009, Lazcano was included on the list of Mexico’s top 37 drug traffickers, with a reward of $2.3 million for his capture or death. The United States offered an additional $5 million.
Under “El Lazca’s” leadership, the Zetas were responsible for some of the most significant massacres committed by drug trafficking groups. These include the killing of 72 Central and South American migrants in August 2010 in San Fernando, as well as the deaths of 52 people in a casino fire in Monterrey in 2011.
The Demise of “El Verdugo”
In the afternoon of Sunday, October 7, 2012, “El Verdugo” died during an altercation with members of the Navy in Progreso, Coahuila. His body disappeared from the Forensic Medical Service. However, the government assured that enough tests were conducted to confirm his identity as the drug trafficker.
According to reports, cartel hitmen tried to retrieve the body to bury it without further investigation and to prevent any confrontations during the funeral.
The war for territory continues between the different cells of the Zetas, remnants of the Gulf Cartel, and the Sinaloa cartel.
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