Matazetas ambush, kill four Mexican soldiers in Jalisco

Guadalajara -
Presumed members of Mexico's violent Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), commonly known as Los Matazetas, or the Zeta Killers, ambushed a Mexican army convoy west of Guadalajara early Monday evening, killing four soldiers, Two others were seriously wounded.

The unit was on patrol near Guachinango, about half way between the Jaliscan capital and Puerto Vallarta, when it was fired upon just before 5:00 p.m. Monday.

Guachinango, which is both a county and county seat, lies near the Jalisco-Nayarit border (Mexican Federal Police and military units capture 26 Zetas in Nayarit).

At least 30 heavily armed CJNG operatives used AK-47s and grenades, ramming a military transport vehicle with a pickup truck as the assault began. They had arranged an angle of fire from which there was no possible retreat. Senior officers said the attack was so sudden that none of the soldiers got off a single shot. Rescue crews said the dead victims were badly burned.

Hundreds of expended shells littered the scene, according to observers on site. Residents of the community reported they heard the staccato bursts of semi-automatic fire for almost 10 minutes.

Some of the attackers were badly wounded and transported to a regional hospital. At least one died.

Federal, state and local police joined troops scouring the countryside, searching for the perpetrators who escaped.

Jalisco's state prosecutor reported last night that the investigation is under the primary control of the Mexican army's 15th Military District Command. The Procuraduría General de la República, Mexico's federal Attorney General, also will participate.

The Matazetas are based in Guadalajara, where they have a dominant presence in narcotics trafficking and other criminal enterprises. Federals capture key Matazeta operative in suburban Guadalajara.

They are particularly active in suburban Zapopan county and in the rugged countryside west of the Guadalajara metro, where they control drug sales in local communities and have carried out many executions of competitors. Body count continues at newly discovered narco burial site in Guadalajara outskirts.

The Matazetas also have a foothold in Quintana Roo state, on Mexico's Caribbean coast, where they are locked in brutal competition with several other regional and national cartels. Matazeta arrested in 2008 case of 12 men decapitated in Mérida, Yucatán.

MGR reports on Los Matazetas:
2014
Apr. 27 - "Zeta Killer" boss arrested in Puerto Vallarta
Jan. 31 - Mexican prosecutor: Jalisco drug cartel armed Michoacán autodefensas
Jan. 26 - 20 Michoacán police officers charged as "Zeta killers"

2013
May 14 - Drug cartels behind three recent Guadalajara attacks

2012
Dec. 28 - Two cartels unite to declare war on Los Zetas in Cancún, foreshadowing "bloodbath"
Dec. 25 - Death toll in Jalisco-Michoacán violence rises to 28
Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve narco violence wracks Jalisco and Michoacán states
Sept. 6 - Six murders in 12 hours alarm Guadalajara
Aug. 26 - More narco blockades in Guadalajara, by Los Matazetas
Apr. 18 - 50 Matazeta executioners in Cancún to "recover the plaza" for El Chapo Guzmán
Apr. 17 - Los Matazetas - the "Zeta Killers" - may have arrived in Cancún

2011
Oct. 1 - Los Matazetas are just a competing drug gang, says Mexican government
Sept. 29 - Mexico’s new vigilantes: “Los Matazetas” - Zeta Killers

Guachinango, Jalisco, May 12, 2014

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