NYT:
"[Rosalio] Reta was 13 when he was recruited by the Zetas, the infamous assassins of the Gulf Cartel, law enforcement officials say. He was one of a group of American teenagers from the impoverished streets of Laredo who was lured into the drug wars across the Rio Grande in Mexico with promises of high pay, fancy cars and sexy women. ...The Mexican drug cartels recruit young men from both countries and operate their smuggling and murder-for-hire rings on both sides of the divide, though under slightly different rules of engagement."
One of the most interesting trends of late is the growth of the cartel enforcer gangs (the Zetas being a good example) as powers in their own right. Sam Logan's main point has always been that the Zetas are growing larger, more violent, more decentralized, and also much less disorganized. The Zetas have always been popularly understood as a group of former Mexican special ops personnel, but now they are another violent gang that prizes brute force over specialized killing. The use of teenagers as proxies is confirmation of this.
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