Los Zetas

Los Zetas

Los Zetas have been identified as a group of elite Mexican commandos, trained by U.S. forces to combat the drug cartels, who reportedly have switched sides and are working for the drug smugglers in the border area posing a special hazard to American law enforcement and Border Patrol agents, according to a U.S. Justice Department.

The commandos, were originally trained by the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Because of their commando training, Los Zetas are known to be extremely violent and have been blamed for an outbreak of violence along the Mexican border.

There are reports of the commandos making cross-border runs into U.S. territory in military-style vehicles, armed with automatic weapons.

The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars training Los Zetas to intercept drugs, some of them coming from Mexico's southern border, before they could reach the U.S. The U.S. government has also sent U.S. Border Patrol agents to Mexico's southern border with Guatemala to train law enforcement and military forces to intercept human smugglers destined to reach the U.S.