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Re: FW: Security Weekly : Worrying Signs from Border Raids

Released on 2013-02-13 00:00 GMT

Email-ID 7783
Date 2008-11-13 00:40:42
Holy shit. That's crazy. I used to go to Reynosa all the time when I was
in High School. My great aunt lives there and much of my family in
McAllen goes there all the time to visit.

My Mom's told me stories about how bad it's gotten and how she doesn't go
there anymore because of all the gang/drug cartel activity.

I'd hate to be a US Federal agent working the border armed with only a
pee-shooter against the Zetas.

On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 3:27 PM, Adam Foshko <> wrote:


On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 1:41 PM, Solomon Foshko
<> wrote:

Solomon Foshko

T: 512.744.4089
F: 512.744.4334

From: Stratfor []
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 2:24 PM
Subject: Security Weekly : Worrying Signs from Border Raids

Strategic Forecasting logo
Worrying Signs from Border Raids

November 12, 2008

Global Security and Intelligence Report

By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart

Related Special Topic Page

. Tracking Mexico's Drug Cartels

Last week, the Mexican government carried out a number of operations
in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, aimed at Jaime "El Hummer" Gonzalez Duran, one
of the original members of the brutal cartel group known as Los Zetas.
According to Mexican government officials, Gonzalez Duran controlled
the Zetas' operations in nine Mexican states.

The Nov. 7 arrest of Gonzalez Duran was a major victory for the
Mexican government and will undoubtedly be a major blow to the Zetas.
Taking Gonzalez Duran off the streets, however, is not the only aspect
of these operations with greater implications. The day before Gonzalez
Duran's arrest, Mexican officials searching for him raided a safe
house, where they discovered an arms cache that would turn out to be
the largest weapons seizure in Mexican history. This is no small feat,
as there have been several large hauls of weapons seized from the
Zetas and other Mexican cartel groups in recent years.

The weapons seized at the Gonzalez Duran safe house included more than
500 firearms, a half-million rounds of ammunition and 150 grenades.
The cache also included a LAW rocket, two grenade launchers and a
small amount of explosives. Along with the scores of assorted assault
rifles, grenades and a handful of gaudy gold-plated pistols were some
weapons that require a bit more examination: namely, the 14 Fabrique
Nationale (FN) P90 personal defense weapons and the seven Barrett
.50-caliber sniper rifles contained in the seizure.


As previously noted, the FN Five-Seven pistol and FN P90 personal
defense weapon are very popular with the various cartel enforcer
groups operating in Mexico. The Five-Seven and the P90 shoot a 5.7
mm-by-28 mm round that has been shown to be effective in penetrating
body armor as well as vehicle doors and windows. Because of this
ability to punch through body armor, cartel enforcers call the weapons
"matapolicias," Spanish for "cop killers." Of course, AK-47 and
M-16-style assault rifles are also effective at penetrating body armor
and vehicles, as are large-caliber hunting rifles such as the 30.06
and the .308. But the advantage of the Five-Seven and the P90 is that
they provide this penetration capability in a much smaller * and thus
far more concealable * package.

The P90 is a personal defense weapon designed to be carried by tank
crew members or combat support personnel who require a compact weapon
capable of penetrating body armor. It is considered impractical for
such soldiers to be issued full-size infantry rifles or even assault
rifles, so traditionally these troops were issued pistols and
submachine guns. The proliferation of body armor on the modern
battlefield, however, has rendered many pistols and submachine guns
that fire pistol ammunition ineffective. Because of this, support
troops needed a small weapon that could protect them from armored
troops; the P90 fits this bill.

In fact, the P90 lends itself to anyone who needs powerful,
concealable weapons. Protective security details, some police officers
and some special operations forces operators thus have begun using the
P90 and other personal defense weapons. The P90's power and ability to
be concealed also make it an ideal weapon for cartel enforcers intent
on conducting assassinations in an urban environment * especially
those stalking targets wearing body armor.

The Five-Seven, which is even smaller than the P90, fires the same
fast, penetrating cartridge. Indeed, cartel hit men have killed
several Mexican police officers with these weapons in recent months.
However, guns that fire the 5.7 mm-by-28 mm cartridge are certainly
not the only type of weapons used in attacks against police * Mexican
cops have been killed by many other types of weapons.

Reach Out and Touch Someone

While the P90 and Five-Seven are small and light, and use a small,
fast round to penetrate armor, the .50-caliber cartridge fired by a
Barrett sniper rifle is the polar opposite: It fires a huge chunk of
lead. By way of comparison, the 5.7 mm-by-28 mm cartridge is just a
little more than 1.5 inches long and has a 32-grain bullet. The
.50-caliber Browning Machine Gun (BMG) cartridge is actually 12.7 mm
by 99 mm, measures nearly 5.5 inches long and fires a 661-grain
bullet. The P90 has a maximum effective range of 150 meters (about 165
yards), whereas a Barrett's listed maximum effective range is 1,850
meters (about 2,020 yards) * and there are reports of coalition forces
snipers in Afghanistan scoring kills at more than 2,000 meters (about
2,190 yards).

The .50-BMG round not only will punch through body armor and normal
passenger vehicles, it can defeat the steel plate armor and the
laminated ballistic glass and polycarbonate windows used in lightly
armored vehicles. This is yet another reminder that there is no such
thing as a bulletproof car. The round is also capable of penetrating
many brick and concrete block walls.

We have heard reports for years of cartels seeking .50-caliber sniper
rifles made by Barrett and other U.S. manufacturers. Additionally, we
have noted many reports of seizures from arms smugglers in the United
States of these weapons bound for Mexico, or of the weapons being
found in Mexican cartel safe houses * such as the seven rifles seized
in Reynosa. Unlike the P90s, however, we cannot recall even one
instance of these powerful weapons being used in an attack against
another cartel or against a Mexican government target. This is in
marked contrast to Ireland, where the Irish Republican Army used
.50-caliber Barrett rifles obtained from the United States in many
sniper attacks against British troops and the Royal Ulster

That Mexican cartels have not used these devastating weapons is
surprising. There are in fact very few weapons in the arsenals of
cartel enforcers that we have not seen used, including hand grenades,
40 mm grenades, LAW rockets and rocket-propelled grenades. Even though
most intercartel warfare has occurred inside densely populated Mexican
cities such as Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo * places where
it would be very difficult to find a place to take a shot longer than
a few hundred meters, much less a couple thousand * the power of the
Barrett could be very effective for taking out targets wearing body
armor, riding in armored vehicles, located inside the safe house of a
rival cartel or even inside a government building. Also, unlike
improvised explosive devices, which the cartels have avoided using for
t he most part, the use of .50-caliber rifles would not involve a high
probability of collateral damage.

This indicates that the reason the cartels have not used these weapons
is to be found in the nature of snipers and sniping.


Most military and police snipers are highly trained and very
self-disciplined. Being a sniper requires an incredible amount of
practice, patience and preparation. Aside from rigorous training in
marksmanship, the sniper must also be trained in camouflage,
concealment and movement. Snipers are often forced to lie immobile for
hours on end. Additional training is required for snipers operating in
urban environments, which offer their own set of challenges to the
sniper; though historically, as seen in battles like Stalingrad, urban
snipers can be incredibly effective.

Snipers commonly deploy as part of a team of two, comprising a shooter
and a spotter. This means two very self-disciplined individuals must
be located and trained. The team must practice together and learn how
to accurately estimate distances, wind speed, terrain elevation and
other variables that can affect a bullet's trajectory. An incredible
amount of attention to detail is required for a sniper team to get
into position and for their shots to travel several hundred meters and
accurately, consistently strike a small target.

In spite of media hype and popular fiction, criminals or terrorists
commit very few true sniper attacks. For example, many of our sniper
friends were very upset that the media chose to label the string of
murders committed by John Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo as the "D.C.
Sniper Case." While Mohammed and Malvo did use concealment, they
commonly shot at targets between 50 and 100 meters (about 55 yards to
110 yards) away. Therefore, calling Mohammed and Malvo snipers was a
serious insult to the genuine article. The assassinations of President
John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the killing of
Dr. Bernard Slepian, also have been dubbed sniper attacks, but they
actually were all shootings committed at distances of less than 100

Of course, using a Barrett at short ranges (100 meters or less) is
still incredibly effective and does not require a highly trained
sniper * as a group of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives special agents found out in 1993 when they attempted to
serve search and arrest warrants at the Branch Davidian compound in
Waco, Texas. The agents were met with .50-caliber sniper fire that
ripped gaping holes through the Chevrolet Suburbans they sought cover
behind. Many of the agents wounded in that incident were hit by the
shrapnel created as the .50-caliber rounds punched through their

While it is extremely powerful, the Barrett is however a long, heavy
weapon. If the sniper lacks training in urban warfare, it might prove
very difficult to move around with the gun and also to find a
concealed place to employ it. This may partially explain why the
Mexican cartels have not used the weapons more.

Moreover, while the Zetas originally comprised deserters from the
Mexican military and over the years have shown an ability to conduct
assaults and ambushes, we have not traditionally seen them deploy as
snipers. Today, most of the original Zetas are now in upper
management, and no longer serve as foot soldiers.

The newer men brought into the Zetas include some former military and
police officers along with some young gangster types; most of them
lack the level of training possessed by the original Zetas. While the
Zetas have also brought on a number of former Kaibiles, Guatemalan
special operations forces personnel, most of them appear to be
assigned as bodyguards for senior Zetas. This may mean we are not
seeing the cartels employ snipers because their rank-and-file
enforcers do not possess the discipline or training to function as

Potential Problems

Of course, criminal syndicates in possession of these weapons still
pose a large potential threat to U.S. law enforcement officers,
especially when the weapons are in the hands of people like Gonzalez
Duran and his henchmen. According to an FBI intelligence memo dated
Oct. 17 and leaked to the media, Gonzalez Duran appeared to have
gotten wind of the planned operation against him. He reportedly had
authorized those under his command to defend their turf at any cost,
to include engagements with U.S. law enforcement agents. It is
important to remember that a chunk of that turf was adjacent to the
U.S. border and American towns, and that Reynosa * where Gonzalez
Duran was arrested and the weapons were seized * is just across the
border from McAllen, Texas.

Armed with small, powerful weapons like the P90, cartel gunmen can
pose a tremendous threat to any law enforcement officer who encounters
them in a traffic stop or drug raid. Over the past several years, we
have noted several instances of U.S. Border Patrol agents and other
U.S. law enforcement officers being shot at from Mexico. The thought
of being targeted by a weapon with the range and power of a
.50-caliber sniper rifle would almost certainly send chills up the
spine of any Border Patrol agent or sheriff's deputy working along the

Armed with assault rifles, hand grenades and .50-caliber sniper
rifles, cartel enforcers have the potential to wreak havoc and outgun
U.S. law enforcement officers. The only saving grace for U.S. law
enforcement is that many cartel enforcers are often impaired by drugs
or alcohol and tend to be impetuous and reckless. While the cartel
gunmen are better trained than most Mexican authorities, their
training does not stack up to that of most U.S. law enforcement
officers. This was illustrated by an incident on Nov. 6 in Austin,
Texas, when a police officer used his service pistol to kill a cartel
gunman who fired on the officer with an AK-47.

While the arrest of Gonzalez Duran and the seizure of the huge arms
cache in Reynosa have taken some killers and weapons off the street,
they are only one small drop in the bucket. There are many heavily
armed cartel enforcers still at large in Mexico, and the violence is
spreading over the border into the United States. Law enforcement
officers in the United States therefore need to maintain a keen
awareness of the threat.

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