July 06, 2009
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The violence in Mexico born of the insatiable demand for drugs -- and the unbelievable money to be made satisfying that demand -- is leading to the professionalization of the narco-traffickers, and their recruiting efforts are targeting ever younger recruits.
Rusty Fleming writes of his encounter with a natural born killer.
On a hot summer evening, in a bar in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, just across the bridge from Laredo, Texas; a thirty year-old man, on his knees, surrounded by a dozen armed guards, can be heard begging for his life, he cries for one more chance to make it right with the boss, one more chance to see his family—one more chance at life.
His boss happens to be the man who dictates the life and death of every soul in the Laredo corridor, listens to the pleas but has already made up his mind. He stands as judge and jury in this court and it’s clear, he’s heard enough. So he pulls a diamond studded, pearl handled pistol from his belt and slowly hands it over to one of his newest recruits. He tells the recruit to put a bullet in the condemned mans head as he sobs uncontrollably—and so, without hesitation the young man pulls the trigger four times over.
This was the new recruit’s first kill and his first real test for initiation to become an assassin of the Gulf Cartel’s enforcement arm known as the Zetas. He had never killed anyone before that night and when his cartel boss handed him the pistol and he pulled that trigger— he knew he loved it. He told me later that it gave him a rush that he had never felt before, “to kill a man and know I was going to get a way with it gave me a feeling of power” — He spoke of that night as if he had found his true calling — “I knew right then I was born to be a sicario” (Spanish for “hit-man”)
He was thirteen years old.
I’ve met and talked with numerous players in the drug war being waged on our border and beyond, that have often left me feeling more than a little disturbed. The utter disregard for human life that’s evidenced in the daily tortures and executions taking place down here, certainly wears on the most seasoned of us reporting on it. But when I looked into the eyes of this young man and saw how he lit up inside while speaking so nonchalantly yet eloquently about how he “lived to kill” ever since he pulled that trigger for the first time, it sent cold chills down my spine—and still does.
“I’ve killed men while they were tied and bound but that there is no thrill, no excitement in that for me. I prefer to stalk my target, hunt them down and then, after I know his moves front to back, I sneak up on them, look’em in the eyes and pull the trigger—now that’s a rush.”
... Rosalio Reta was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and recruited by the Zetas when he was barely in the 7th grade.
Fleming goes on to warn that the drug lords are willing to spend whatever it takes to create their own special forces units, the violence that has heretofore been south of our border sure to leak across to the north, thanks to the feral killers recruited while barely into their teens.
The ruthlessness and savagery of the narco-trafficantes and their teen hitmen bodes ill for us. I am reminded of the title of a novel by the great Ray Bradbury: Something Wicked This Way Comes.
I am, like Fleming, chilled at the prospect.
So should you.
Posted by Mike Lief at July 6, 2009 10:38 PM
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Comments
That is about the most chilling thing I've read in a long time. CLOSE DOWN THE BORDER NOW!!!!
Posted by: Franko at July 6, 2009 11:34 PM
Bullets will become currency.
Posted by: The Little Coach at July 9, 2009 09:14 AM
Don't forget that Bradbury was using Shakespeare's words:
By the pricking of my thumbs
something wicked this way comes
The witches in MacBeth if memory serves. (Googling) Yep. That's it.
Posted by: BlogDog at July 12, 2009 06:20 PM