The bodies of 72 migrant workers were found in Mexico in August. All were executed after being lined up against a wall and shot.
Who were their executioners? The Zeta Cartel, founded and trained by U.S. Special Forces, considered the most dangerous cartel in the country.
These 58 men and 14 women from all over Latin America were attempting to make their way to the U.S. when they were preyed on by the Zetas. While undoubtedly a massacre, these 72 deaths are simply another addition to the estimated 28,000 people killed in drug-related violence since 2007.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug trafficking in 2007. This war has cost more lives than America has lost in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.
While we as a country may not be responsible for the vast majority of these deaths, we cannot ignore how we helped to train those responsible for most of the violence.
However, it shouldn’t be terribly surprising. This isn’t the first time we’ve done something like this.
Unlike our work with the Mujahidin and Iraq — who were used against foreign countries we disagreed with — the former Special Forces members now in the Zeta Cartel were trained to combat the drug trade.
Originally part of the elite Mexican division GAFE (Airmobile Special Forces Group), these soldiers were trained at Ft. Bragg, N.C., in the early ’90s. Under the supervision of the U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group, they learned communications, weapon skills and other things vital for their end goal: Counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics.
This isn’t to say our training will always show foreign troops how to use these tactics for criminal ends. GAFE is not the only foreign division trained by us, and most have not caused any problems whatsoever.
What makes Mexico different — and what we should probably take into account in the future — is the level of desertion in these divisions’ countries. If these foreign soldiers are presented an opportunity for greater personal gain by abandoning their positions, they’ll take the training we gave them and use it for their own means.
That’s exactly what those who founded the Zeta Cartel did.
Faced with poor pay back in Mexico, it should surprise no one some of the GAFE soldiers would fall to the corruption prevalent in their country and join a cartel. From 2000 to 2005, the desertion rate of this division reached as high as 25 percent.
In the case of the Mujahidin, the U.S. decided it would be perfect to use this method against the Soviet Union and to give them a situation comparable to America’s involvement in Vietnam. By sending over advanced equipment and helping with their training, the Mujahidin were made into powerful combatants for our proxy war with the Soviets.
However, after the Soviet threat was extinguished in Afghanistan, we now had groups of fighters with an agenda of their own who had training, equipment and a power vacuum to fill.
This is when the Taliban stepped forward.
Iraq received training and aid from the U.S. when its war with Iran started. As with the GAFE, some Iraqi special forces traveled to Ft. Bragg. They received very different instruction, however, and would be shown how to wage unconventional warfare.
On top of all this, we also gave former Iraq President Saddam Hussein the material he would use to create biological weapons.
In all three cases, the support, training and aid we have given these forces has caused unwanted collateral damage, sometimes including American lives.
While these may be the exception and not the rule, perhaps more care should be taken when we decide to aid foreign forces.
The last thing we want is to continue to train future threats to America or its citizens.
 
Zachary Davis is a 19-year-old history sophomore from Warsaw, Poland. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_zdavis
 
 
 
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Contact Zachary Davis at [email protected]