Borderland Beat

by Alex Marentes

  Borderland Beat collaborators and staff devote a lot of personal time and effort to provide vital information about the Mexican drug cartels to loyal readers without earning a cent. We never monetized the project, although our reach was far and huge.

  I have never personally met any of the contributor’s face to face, although I became good friends to some of them. Some I knew better than others. Everyone’s identity was hidden using nicknames. No one knew who was who. This was important to keep them and their families safe. A lot of them lived in Mexico and it was very dangerous to live in ground zero where organized crime could killed with impunity and would kill anyone that dare to report on cartel activity. But it was important that no one, including other collaborators, know anyone’s identity. Cartels do not just execute people; they abduct them, tortured them first to get information, then they cut their bodies in pieces. That is the nature of the Mexican cartel. Who would not talk under these circumstances? No one can blame them, a proactive approach is the key here.

  Some of the collaborators had confided in some of their personal information and I knew a little bit about them.

  For example, I would talk to Illiana, mostly about the drug cartels, but sometimes about our happiness and fears. I remember when she covered a story where the military had shot at a family that went through a military checkpoint and killed two little boys in the state of Tamaulipas. They were on a vacation travelling to the beach to spend Easter ("El Día de la Coneja" for Two Little Boys). I remember her taking it real hard, and she did because it was personal. Illiana lived in the area where the incident occurred. She started her article by saying, “I cried today.” She went on to say:

  “Well damn, it turns out the boys were actually killed by Mexican military forces, the same ones who are supposed to be here to protect us from the bad guys.

  This whole thing is so sad, especially because we are talking about innocent children, who were just looking forward to going to the beach to hide eggs for Easter. How can this be happening?

  This is not the first time Borderland Beat has covered the death of innocent bystanders killed by military forces, last month the Editor of this blog wrote a report entitled "The Mexican Drug War’s Collateral Damage." I really don't want to repeat a lot of what has already been said, but really, something needs to be done.

  Just so you know, La Jornada and El Milenio, which are national media sources, ran with the story, but the local media outlets did not publish shit, nada! They totally suck, who are they working for? The people should stop buying their worthless newspapers or watching their lame news on TV.

  God receive these two young boys in heaven because they have already been in hell for Easter Sunday!

  Today they are in the garden of God hunting for eggs on el día de la coneja.

  Shit!”

  Illiana started organizing protests against the government. I cautioned her not to get too personally involved and to focus on just reporting on the story. I know sometimes that is hard, especially when you live there, and it involves children. But she was so passionate about the incident that I started to get worried. I did not know much about her, other than she lived in a city in the state of Tamaulipas and might be a journalist. She suddenly stopped corresponding with me and stopped posting on Borderland Beat. She just vanished from the Borderland Beat community. I had no way to find out what happened to her. I didn’t even have her name. I have always wondered what ever happened to her.

  Then there was RiseMakaveli who had a lot of knowledge of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel. He knew the names of people in both cartels and who was who. He had so much detailed information that some people were starting to wonder if he was actually a sicario in one of the cartels. I asked him once, but I really never got a straight answer. He eventually left Borderland Beat and left us wondering who he was and what happened to him. Someone once sent me a long email saying he knew that RiseMakaveli was a lieutenant with the Gulf Cartel and that he had died in a shootout with Los Zetas. I was never able to confirm it, and we might never know what really happened to him. I rather believe that he is out there somewhere enjoying life, and moving on to more positive, meaningful things in life.

  I did an interview with RiseMakaveli in March 26, 2010 in a post in Borderland Beat titled, “The Rise of Makaveli - Interview on the Gulf and Zetas.”

  The Interview

  RiseMakaveli is a person who lives in Mexico and is in the middle of the waging war of the two cartels, as are many people living in the border towns of Mexico. Because of his geographical location, RiseMakaveli has personal knowledge and has known some of the principles. He is not involved in any drug cartel activity (as far as we know) but has known some of them as a matter of living among them. He has a vast knowledge of what is going on, almost like an insider look of what is happening.

  Because of his present situation and we that follow these matters know that these things can be dangerous, he has chosen to remain anonymous to protect himself and his family.

  Borderland: “How have the people (el puebo) managed to interact with the Gulf cartel?”

  RiseMakaveli: “At first, people were skeptical. People did not know if it really was for the better, but so far, it seems like the CDG has been doing a good job at earning the peoples trust and respect…

  You see, it’s hard to believe that this war will end anytime soon. The plague of Los Zetas has pretty much injected itself into the very arteries of Mexico. These guys are everywhere, politics, small businesses, restaurants, newspapers, media.

  Literally, Zetas are cops. It used to be that you got stopped by city police and some of them were bought by the group, but others where legit but still had to respect their “commandante” who was and always has been bought by los Zetas…

  But now it’s not like that, the Zetas where the cops. And I speak in past tense because now with the CDG things will have to change, that is why cops are ending up dead all over the place. All of them, literally. As scary as it may sound, it was true.

  Cops where actually doing the kidnappings. I don’t know if you saw this video of a guy that was scared shitless by some cops in I think it was NL, not sure don’t remember but here is the link

  Ok, now we do have to admit, this video is sort of funny… But at the same time scary, because it’s true. You can’t trust cops. I mean you get stop, and if you got the right Código, they’ll just let you go.. See for a long time the way things have worked is this way.

  If you where someone high in society and you paid for protection, or someone involved in the drug trafficking or whatever, you paid a fee for x amount of time and they would give you your own personal CODIGO (CODE). They would issue you this special password, and whoever stopped you had to let you go, or they would have penalties for withholding you. The officers and Zetas kept a list, updated daily of Codes.

  See, it was all commercialized in a way… You have to understand one thing, these are people who were born into this life, they were born in a society which did not provide them with as many freebies as the one we are in now. People who live here in the US are blessed.

  Yes, we do have a lot of poverty and crime as well, but there is no comparison. Here, in the US, a lot of people who are broke, is simply due to the fact that they don’t want to work. I mean Ociel Cardenas before he became what he was, he used to work as a mechanic and wash cars in Matamoros.

  And I’ve met people who would always say, “oh he thinks he’s all that, he used to wash my car in the old days”. And I would remind them “yeah but he made millions, and you’re still working in the same old deadbeat job” …

  I mean, it’s not trying to make him seem like he’s all that, my point is that a lot of these guys are involved in that business simply because they had no choice… Of course, that does not include all of them, but a good amount of them are.”

  Borderland: “Did they accept them at first? How about now?”

  RiseMakaveli: “See, after all this shit, and this years of tort
ure and basically unfairness that people here in Tamaulipas have endured, right now. It’s basically like they see the Cartel trucks rolling in with CDG on their back window, and it’s like.

  Ok, what now. Everyone minds their own business, I mean, it was at the point that if you saw a brand new truck on the street, didn’t matter if the truck was driving on the other side of the street, or if the truck was cutting you off or not stopping at red lights, but everyone knew “ohh ohh keep to yourself, those guys are probably running with someone else”.. and a lot of the time it was true man, I mean you honked at somebody who thought they were the shit and they had no respect for civilian people they would rush out their truck and either scare the shit out of you at gun point, or literally you’d be in for a beating. If not worse…

  Clear example, you have a puppy who you want to learn to stay in this box. He always runs out, and is all playful and doesn’t listen to you.

  Sure I mean it’s a puppy, it will keep doing the same thing over and over. But what happens if every time he leaves the box you beat him in the head with a 2x4.

  Eventually he will learn the hard way not to leave the box or he will get hit. That’s basically what happened to a lot of people here. They lost their own will to fight, they just live life as it is, and a lot of them believe the saying, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”

  Up to right now, the CDG came in with the right set of minds. Supposedly, protecting the citizens, by eradicating the “Sicarios Zetas! ” It’s all good business, it’s good marketing. It’s good campaigning. You think the CDG cares for the people? The fuck they do! They don’t give a shit.

  But they have strong people thinking this shit through. They couldn’t care a rat’s ass about the people. Back in the day, what did Ociel do while he was locked up? He paid for a party of over 2000 people on the street and got gifts for the children who couldn’t afford it. What was that? Good heart? From a guy who killed his friend to take over his business?

  You have to always remember this. It is all GOOD BUSINESS. that is all it is.

  Those who will prevail will be those who think above the league. You have to stop thinking small time, and start seeing the big picture. You can’t take the government full on, but the government can’t take on their citizens. Win the people, and you got it made.

  The army won’t be able to do shit. Bottom line, so far, the CDG is doing a good job, keeping the killing to minimum, trying to sell the image that they are here to save us all, and free us from the KILLERS ZETAS, who for some reason, everyone seems to forget, THEY CREATED THEM.”

  Borderland: “How are the typical Sicarios for the Gulf or Zetas? Is it the lower class or the middle class? What about the ones that are getting killed, are they from the region?”

  RiseMakaveli: “I know, I refer to “IT USED TO BE” a lot. But it’s just the way that I feel… It used to be, Zetas where Loyal people, killers. But everyone admired them because they protected the boss man, putting their life in danger, and giving their life for him in a second’s hesitation. It used to be that you would recognize a Zeta a mile away. I remember they would all dress in black jeans, black dress shirt and they were all very cautious.

  Somewhere along the line everything went to hell. They started hiring drug addicts of the streets, strapping them with an AK, sending them to a boot camp of a couple of days/weeks and put em on the street to handle business. That’s when it all turned from Zetas being Elite, to Zetas being “PIEDREROS.” Zetas slowly went losing the respect of the people, afterwards, you would see people all trashy, not even dressing right, in work pants, shoes untied strapped with a radio in hand, and he was a Zeta, hahaha.

  Somewhere along the way, they got desperate and started to hire people on street corners, who drank all fucking day and got fucked up. How can someone like that be able to handle business? They didn’t. That’s why shit got stirred. Years ago, you would get in trouble and you’d get stopped. Either police or guardias and depending on the magnitude of what you did, you’d either get a smack in the head with a gun, or end up falling asleep with sour asscheeks (they carried wood sticks in their trucks to smack the shit out of you!)

  That’s all, and before if they wanted to do something, it was all called in. They’d have you kneed in front of them, and asking you questions. Who are you? Who are you allied with? This, that. And call it in and confirm. Basically, ask permission to either hit you or kill you. Or just let you go.

  Now a days, man, you meet the wrong people on the street and you get shot, instantly. Of course, this is not all the time, there’s still some sort of restrain in some people, but not all.”

  Borderland: “Who are the main players currently in the Gulf and Zetas. What is the current status of the Zetas? Have they been put out of commission? I see their leadership is pretty much intact!”

  RiseMakaveli: “Well, as to the leadership. It’s pretty much the same, Z40 and Lazcano.. I have not known of any updates with that, but none of them have been caught or killed. because be sure of one thing. Once either of them gets killed or captured, they will blow it up on TV.

  I’m pretty sure that maybe even the Zetas will make sure that the media finds out. Because it will be a major blow to the company…

  Now as much as being out of commission, no, they’re not. I mean they have been hit hard and lost some business but they still control major points in Tamaulipas. Only difference is that now everything is falling on them, but they still evade and continue, believe that.

  I repeat, they are not just some cockroaches as many people wish to people, they are pretty much a part of the system now. Either people like it or not).”

  Borderland: “What place has the most activities currently in your region and what do you see happening here in the next few years? Will they ever get rid of the cartel or will they just realign and change method of operations?”

  RiseMakaveli: “It’s hard to actually foresee what will happen in years to come, but one thing is for sure. This will not end soon, and I guarantee you man, almost as if it was written on stone. Either both, or one of them will get crucified. This will not end without somebody taking a major hit, and making it seem like it’s over. Either Lazcano or Z40, or both. Are going to get crucified. Bad.

  People will no longer let this slide, even if the majority of the people know the truth, the media will make it seem like they killed the dragon. Why? Because they are in too deep. It’s public now… They made it public that it is MEXICO VS LOS ZETAS.. They are pinning everything bad on them, which is not true.

  A lot of the murders that happened where under the orders, or it’s wrong to say orders, more like, it was under the contract from CDG.. A lot of the beheadings, fucking bloody massacres where under jobs the Zetas got from CDG.. Or from personal friends of theirs.

  See, it is not a fight against drugs. It is a fight against the image they have created on The Zetas. Too bad they turned into the escape goat. Not to say they don’t deserve it, they do for being no fucking morale having motherfuckers.

  But it’s not all the blame on them).”

  RiseMakaveli would be an active collaborator by posting stories of events and cartel operations, answering questions in the comment section and clarifying events and names of cartel participants. Around July 2010 RiseMakaveli suddenly disappeared from Borderland Beat (BB) and no one knew what happened to him. There were many speculations from BB readers and some shared information that could not be confirmed. There was a lot of chatter in the BB forum:

  Montana: “It was relayed to me from his close sources that RiseMakeveli was mortally wounded and died of his wounds this past weekened. He was wounded by gunfire in a battle against the Zetas on the reynosa-matamoros highway a couple of weeks ago. He was affiliated with the Gulf Cartel and was a commandante under Metro 3, the boss of reynosa. His reporting and editorials will be missed.”

  Commando956: “I heard the same thing about Rise dying in a battle against the zetas on another site. RIP bro.”

&
nbsp; Anon: “Rise, if you didnt know is affiliated with the CDG. He is a commandante working directly under Metro-3. Rise was wounded in a shootout with zetas along the reynosa-matamoros highway. He is fine and recovering in reynosa. Hell be back soon on here;).”

  quitapuercos: “Risemakaveli was executed for supporting the golfas the brutal Zetas murdered him in tamaulipaZ.”

  Roffasouth: “I thought he was wounded and recovering in reynosa? Do u have a source? I dont believe it because these idiots are making jokes about it so i dont know whats right... and if its true, i hope these pinches zetas will get a bullet in their head.”

  Other Contributors

  There were many other contributors that I know decided to move on to better things in life, recapturing their personal life, before it got snuffed by the dark side of reporting on brutal, violent narco life in Mexico.

  Like many other bloggers that were active on social media and on blogs reporting on cartel events, we got the occasional threat, BB collaborators got their share. Although we did not dwell on them or allow it to stop what we were doing, it was taken serious to the point we took every precautionary step we could.

  The longest collaborator to date is Chivis, who has a huge knowledge of the Mexican Drug Cartels. She took over the management of Borderland Beat and is still active running the blog today. She is a fierce defender of BB and has taken good care of the project. BB would not exist without people like Chivis, he/she devotes a lot of personal time to keep the project going, a monumental task.

  El Semanario wrote this at the time when things were getting started on BB on the reporting of the narco world in Mexico in an article titled “Uncensored.”

  “This dangerous empty space of information is being filled, for the good or for the bad, by the blogs. A former policeman and Texas marine, who conceals his real identity under the pseudonym "Buggs" (madman, in the slang of the lower class), is the founder of Borderland Beat (borderlandbeat.com). A popular blog that almost never censures anything and that mixes macabre videos and photographs with graphic information of main stream media sources. This weekend he posted the pictures of the alleged criminals from San Fernando that the Mexican press felts was too risky to report. For the American cyber audience that it has attracted because it's being written in English, unlike the Blog del Narco that is written in Spanish. (Borderland Beat) has become a source of must-read source for law enforcement, judicial officials, military and in particular the general public.”