Confirmed – Los Zetas Use ‘Straw Purchasers’ to Buy South Texas Ranches

Last year, several reports surfaced about how Los Zetas were driving South Texas farmers out of their properties in order to purchase them for their drug running operations. But none of these reports were actually confirmed. The property owners were afraid to speak because they had been threatened by Los Zetas.

However, last week, there was a DEA seizure in Starr County, Texas that confirmed these allegations. Last October, Mexican authorities captured a Zeta ringleader responsible for the Mumbai-style attacks that killed 60 people at the Casino Royale in Monterrey, Mexico. The suspect’s name is Carlos Oliva Castillo, aka ‘La Rana’ (the frog).

During Oliva Castillo’s investigation, authorities were able to link him to a South Texas ranch purchase near Falcon Lake. The property was purchased by Castillo using someone else’s name. The actual name of the new ranch owner is Carlos Ricardo Tamez-Tirado, a doctor who lives across the border in the town of Diaz Ordaz, Mexico.

Prosecutors believe that La Rana’s uncle, Domingo Castillo was responsible for taking care of the ranch. The ranch was used by Los Zetas for drug and human smuggling operations.

Across the border from Starr County, in the Mexican towns of Miguel Aleman, Mier, and Guerrero, there is a bloody war between Los Zetas and the Gulf Drug Cartel. The situation with the drug war violence has gotten so out of control that it recently prompted the Mexican government to build another military base in the area.

In recent weeks, there have been countless reports of drug gangs crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S. as they run away from gun battles. Many of the cartel members hide in Zapata, Roma, and Rio Grande City. After a while, when they are no longer being chased, they go back to Mexico to either fight some more, or to escape. Castillo’s ranch, which is located in Rio Grande City, may have been a safe house for Los Zetas so they could hide from the Mexican military and the rival Gulf Cartel.

The Mexican drug war has devastated the farming and agricultural industry along the Texas-Mexico border. Many ranchers and property owners are either walking away or selling their properties because the area has become unsafe. As a result, the drug cartels are moving in, purchasing properties near the border and using them for their smuggling operations.


http://deadlinelive.info/2011/11/23/confirmed-%E2%80%93-los-zetas-use-%E2%80%98s...