SUMMARY

Although more than 95% of the victims in Mexico’s drug conflicts are cartel members or security forces, civilians are sometimes killed in cross-fire or targeted killings. One of the cartels that have made use of targeted killings of civilians is Los Zetas, the former armed wing of the Gulf Cartel. Los Zetas has gained a reputation of being particularly violent and the organization is one of the best organized criminal groups in Mexico.

Besides drug smuggling, Los Zetas are also involved in extortion and human smuggling, and when civilians do not cooperate with the cartel, they are often tortured or killed. As the cartel controls the eastern states of Mexico, along the Gulf coast, they often interact with immigrants trying to make their way from South- and Central America to the [US(/#country/2). In August 2010 a group of immigrants refusing to work for Los Zetas was massacred in Tamaulipas state near the US - Mexico border. A survivor-led security forces to a ranch near San Fernando where they found 72 bodies in a pile inside a warehouse. The victims had been blindfolded and their hands were tied.

Several bars have been attacked by Los Zetas when their owners have refused to pay protection money to the Cartel, and journalists and politicians are often threatened and sometimes killed by Los Zetas.

Los Zetas first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2010, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 deaths. The threshold was reached in August that year, when 72 immigrants were killed in Tamaulipas state.