A mayor in Mexico sparked a wave of controversy after publicly claiming that there are cartel training camps near his city where Colombian terrorists and Venezuelan mercenaries are training and working with local criminal organizations. He then published a video to back up his claims.
This week, Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodriguez went public on social media and in various news publications, claiming that there were cartel training camps near his municipality. The politician leaked a series of videos recorded by one of the captured cartel gunmen that showed some of the training methods used by Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) – one of the six Mexican cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
In one of the videos shared by Manzo, the gunmen can be seen making their recruits run through drills and positions with their rifles.
The politician claimed that the videos were from a series of training camps that had been raided, but that more continue to be present in the area.
The comments by Manzo Rodriguez sparked controversy in Mexico, where the country continues to downplay the raging cartel violence. By Friday morning, the Michoacan Secretary of State, Carlos Torres Pina, called out the Uruapan mayor, claiming in local news outlets that he was just seeking media attention and that if he had real evidence of cartel training camps, he should provide it to authorities for investigation. Breitbart Texas exclusively reported that Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, the governor of Michoacan and Torres’ boss, is related by blood to two leaders with Carteles Unidos who are serving time in a U.S. prison on drug trafficking charges.
The issue of the cartel training camps comes at a time when, as Breitbart Texas reported, several members of Mexico’s military have been killed by the indiscriminate use of landmines and makeshift explosives by both Carteles Unidos and CJNG as both sides wage a fierce turf war.
As part of that struggle, Breitbart Texas reported, since 2017, how CJNG and Carteles Unidos were some of the first criminal organizations that began hiring mercenaries and former terrorists from Colombia and other countries, including former U.S. military veterans with advanced training.
These mercenaries not only taught Mexican cartel members advanced tactics and weapons, but also taught them how to build improvised explosive devices. Since then, cartel members have revolutionized the use of explosives and were innovators in the use of small drones to deliver explosives, thus creating a low-cost cartel wing that could drop explosives on rivals and police forces. Breitbart Texas began reporting on the weaponization of drones in 2021 and published exclusive photographs of the early designs and one of the instructors. Since then, the use of drones has become widespread as several other cartels have begun using them. Breitbart Texas reported exclusively how the Gulf Cartel in Tamaulipas was using a former U.S. Army veteran to build IEDs for their drones.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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