Confronting the Cartels Our World


Confronting the Cartels

Similar Content

Browse content similar to Confronting the Cartels. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

Mexico's brutal drug war has claimed the lives of 160,000 people, at

:00:00.:00:18.

least 30,000 others are missing. With witless assassins on their

:00:19.:00:34.

payroll and an annual turnover of $30 million, the cartels have the

:00:35.:00:39.

nation under siege, traumatised by extreme violence. Family people have

:00:40.:00:48.

you killed? Hundreds. We have our brand, and our brand is death. But

:00:49.:00:52.

this newly elected state governor says he won't be intimidated. El

:00:53.:00:57.

Bronco, the rebel, says he is taking them on.

:00:58.:01:04.

I have come to Mexico to find out if El Bronco can succeed.

:01:05.:02:22.

On New Year's Day 2016, a small town just 100 commenters from the

:02:23.:02:39.

capital, less then 24 hours later, she was shot dead. Mexico is a

:02:40.:02:45.

violent city. It lies on an important drug route and has become

:02:46.:02:50.

a hotbed for cartel activity. Too dangerous for us to visit, so her

:02:51.:02:55.

parents met us in the nearby state capital.

:02:56.:03:13.

I can see you have security now, but did your daughter have any security?

:03:14.:03:17.

No. Gisela has joined a growing number

:03:18.:03:56.

of murdered mayors. 40 have been killed in the past eight years.

:03:57.:04:06.

Intimidation, threats and assassination attempts are part of

:04:07.:04:08.

daily life for politicians in Mexico. Criminal groups have

:04:09.:04:14.

infiltrated the police, and there is little protection for those who

:04:15.:04:23.

challenge the drug lords. Enter El Bronco, the newly elected governor

:04:24.:04:29.

of the state of Nuevo Leon. El Bronco has been a politician for

:04:30.:04:33.

more than 30 years. A few months ago in a bold move he resigned from one

:04:34.:04:38.

of Mexico's main political parties and stood as an independent. With

:04:39.:04:44.

his unique popular style, he re-engaged many disillusioned

:04:45.:04:49.

voters, tired of corrupt party politics, and one in a landslide. --

:04:50.:04:55.

and he won. El Bronco's powerbase is the city of

:04:56.:05:15.

Monterrey, the capital of Mexico's wealthy state, a few hours' drive

:05:16.:05:22.

from the US border. Governor, how you? Nice to see you. -- how are

:05:23.:05:26.

you? How many security guards did you

:05:27.:05:32.

have? Are all of these people watching out

:05:33.:06:28.

for you? The cleaners, the local shopkeepers?

:06:29.:06:57.

You can defend yourself against guns? You are not armed?

:06:58.:07:44.

At the heart of El Bronco's operation is his social media team.

:07:45.:09:09.

Yes, but since 2006, 100 politicians have been killed since the election

:09:10.:09:15.

you run four, seven politicians have been killed. Another male was killed

:09:16.:09:19.

just in the last few weeks. -- mayor. These facts, the ignored. --

:09:20.:09:25.

can't be ignored. I wasn't entirely convinced by El

:09:26.:10:09.

Bronco's apparent confidence, and when the governor travels beyond the

:10:10.:10:13.

centre of the city, we notice it is in a convoy of armed vehicles. When

:10:14.:10:20.

you leave Monterey, you feel much less safe. What is quite incredible

:10:21.:10:29.

about all of this is we are so close to the US border, about 100

:10:30.:10:33.

kilometres, and yet this feels like nomen's land. I keep being told the

:10:34.:10:39.

cartels are operating out of here. These are the areas that the

:10:40.:10:43.

governor told us was completely under the control of the

:10:44.:10:47.

authorities. But the feeling we get is that that is not the case. A man

:10:48.:10:53.

who knows this very well they do not want to be identified was our guide.

:10:54.:12:20.

This village once had a population of about 14,000. When the cartels

:12:21.:12:30.

moved in the people left. A situation hundreds of thousands of

:12:31.:12:35.

Mexicans face across this country. When the cartels came here, they

:12:36.:12:39.

started to kill people and push them out of their homes. The police have

:12:40.:12:45.

regained control now of this area, but they're still afraid and very

:12:46.:12:50.

concerned. In fact, that is supposed to be the police station and has no

:12:51.:12:54.

sign. Nothing to indicate that they're operating out of there.

:12:55.:13:22.

The locals are the cartel is regarded as the most ruthless in

:13:23.:13:32.

Mexico. -- Zetas cartel. Many of the members are former soldiers, trained

:13:33.:13:35.

to kill. They dominated the state until they got caught up in a turf

:13:36.:13:40.

war with a rival cartel. A war which is still going on. This is the

:13:41.:13:51.

biggest Mexican national corporation now. They have enough resources,

:13:52.:14:00.

they have armies, they have access to the most sophisticated weapons

:14:01.:14:05.

because in the US you can buy very easily sophisticated weapons. That's

:14:06.:14:14.

why they are the epicentre of organised crime in the world.

:14:15.:14:20.

There's something about the murkiness of the drug wars in Mexico

:14:21.:14:23.

that makes reporting from here very difficult. It's hard to know who to

:14:24.:14:29.

trust. But while we are here we are offered an interview with the man

:14:30.:14:33.

who claims to be in charge of local operations for the Zetas cartel.

:14:34.:14:40.

TRANSLATION: Iambic head of the area, I am the head of this

:14:41.:14:46.

territory here. We show no mercy. We are ruthless. Have you beheaded

:14:47.:14:58.

people? Yes. Assassinations? Yes. Executions? Yes. Extortion? Yes. How

:14:59.:15:09.

many people have you killed? I don't know an exact number, but many.

:15:10.:15:18.

Hundreds? Thousands? Hundreds. Any innocent civilians? Yes. We regret

:15:19.:15:29.

that? No. Do you feel responsible for the violence in Mexico? No. We

:15:30.:15:39.

all have a boss. Tell me about the relationship it when the police and

:15:40.:15:41.

the military. What's relationship of your cartel group with them? I won't

:15:42.:15:50.

answer that. What you think of the Governor? It could be him or another

:15:51.:15:57.

one, they are all the same. Do you think he works closely with the

:15:58.:16:03.

cartels? He must be. To politicians, in order to survive in this

:16:04.:16:06.

country, worked closely with groups like yours? I won't talk about the

:16:07.:16:14.

government. -- work closely. Tell me about the state and this area. Is it

:16:15.:16:20.

still being controlled by cartels? 100%. Right now we are fighting to

:16:21.:16:30.

control this turf. We have our brand and our brand is death.

:16:31.:16:50.

His men say they want their boss to leave.

:16:51.:16:59.

I was shocked that this man, who claims to be a Zetas cartel boss,

:17:00.:17:09.

had the confidence to come here, around the corner of the tell me he

:17:10.:17:14.

was still in charge. In stark contrast to everything I was told

:17:15.:17:19.

previously. So who is really running this place? I went to see El Bronco

:17:20.:17:30.

again, this time at home on his Ranch. You understand how the

:17:31.:17:34.

politics of this country works. Tell me about the negotiations that

:17:35.:17:38.

politicians strike with the cartels and criminal gangs?

:17:39.:17:49.

There are some people who speculate that perhaps you have come to some

:17:50.:17:55.

kind of deal with the cartels in order to ensure peace in this state

:17:56.:17:58.

and also your own survival? What about a series of attacks that

:17:59.:18:22.

happened in this state, in fact in Monterey, just several months ago?

:18:23.:18:26.

Toadie two people killed in three separate incidents and there are all

:18:27.:18:28.

linked according to the authorities to drug trafficking and criminal

:18:29.:18:29.

gangs? The US government has issued a

:18:30.:18:43.

warning against travel in certain states in Mexico, including yours.

:18:44.:19:03.

This is clearly personal. He has survived two Acehnese and events --

:19:04.:19:11.

assassination event at his daughter was briefly kidnapped.

:19:12.:20:14.

Organised crime was created by politicians in power. In a side

:20:15.:20:20.

business they started the traffic drugs. Then in the 1930s, 40s and

:20:21.:20:28.

50s, a lot of that activity created this extraordinary power over the

:20:29.:20:34.

most powerful world criminal organisations in the history of

:20:35.:20:43.

mankind. If you are in the town, you will be approached and told to name

:20:44.:20:48.

people who are ahead of police and transit and we will give you that

:20:49.:20:54.

much money. If you don't accept you will be killed. You, your family,

:20:55.:21:06.

your wife, your children. El Bronco is an example of the relationship we

:21:07.:21:09.

have with the elites. They are corrupt, selfish, inefficient and

:21:10.:21:15.

very expensive. They are useless for the common good. We'll El Bronco be

:21:16.:21:23.

a solution? I don't know, it is an experiment. I felt like when I met

:21:24.:21:27.

El Bronco that he was perhaps in denial. They have to deny that

:21:28.:21:35.

organised crime exists because they don't know how to handle it. Then

:21:36.:21:41.

you have the next psychological state, which is the acceptance. El

:21:42.:21:47.

Bronco is just the beginning. El Bronco has been in power for just a

:21:48.:21:52.

few months. For a state politician in Mexico that's a long time to be

:21:53.:21:56.

alive when you vowed to defeat the cartels. The rest of Mexico is

:21:57.:22:01.

closely watching El Bronco's governorship, hoping for signs of

:22:02.:22:06.

success. But just days after we left, if the prisoners died in

:22:07.:22:09.

Monterey Jail in cartel related violence. -- 50 prisoners. The

:22:10.:22:16.

battle for control is not over and El Bronco has a very long way to go

:22:17.:22:18.

to fulfil his promises.

:22:19.:22:22.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS