R.J. Godlewski's The Independent Counterterrorist. I, Militia. June ...

spectacularly violent, aimed at achieving the maximum
psychological impact. In one instance, the Zetas stuffed
four Nuevo Laredo police officers inside barrels of diesel
fuel and burned them to death. 31 Decapitations such as
those occurring in Acapulco serve the same purpose. 32
Cartel enforcers have begun to publish lists of officials
to be targeted for assassination, post execution videos
on YouTube, and coerce newspapers into providing
graphic coverage of their deeds. 33 “They are openly
defying the Mexican state,” says one analyst. “They
are showing that they can kill anybody at any time.” 34
Third-Generation Gangs and the Extent
of the Threat.
All told, the effects of this violence have been
devastating. There were more than 5,000 drug-related
murders in Mexico between January 2007 and October
2008, with 3,800 of these deaths occurring in the first
10 months of 2008 alone. 35 This bloodshed has become
more wanton as it becomes more common; in September
2008, unknown assailants threw grenades into a crowd
in Morelia during an Independence Day celebration.
Aside from inflicting a mounting toll in lives, the
violence has occasioned something approaching mass
psychological trauma. A palpable sense of fear has
spread across much of the population. Says one woman,
“We are prisoners in our own homes.” 36 In some
regions—particularly in areas of Chihuahua, Durango,
and Sinaloa—the cartels have become so powerful as to
render government authority nominal or nonexistent.
One DEA official describes the prevailing situation in
northern Mexico as “somewhere between Al Capone’s
Chicago and an outright war.” 37
This breakdown of government authority in certain
areas touches on one of the most troubling long-term
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