The bottom line: Never underestimate the drug trade.
Jeremy Roebuck
The Monitor
McALLEN, Tex.— Recent U.S. efforts to disrupt drug smuggling routes through the Rio Grande Valley have prompted threats of retaliation against authorities on this side of the river, according to an FBI intelligence report.
Vowing to maintain control over valuable trafficking corridors such as those in Reynosa, Matamoros and Miguel Alemán, the Gulf Cartel and its paramilitary enforcement wing, Los Zetas, have begun stockpiling weapons, reaching out to Texas gangs and issuing orders to “confront U.S. law enforcement agencies to zealously protect their criminal interests,” the report states.
The organizations’ encroachment north of the border marks a troubling shift in strategies, federal and local authorities say.
Prior to now, smugglers largely maintained a non-engagement policy with law enforcement here, even as they carried out hundreds of assassinations and violent attacks on authorities in Mexico.
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