CARTELS RECRUIT GUATEMALANS IN MEXICO DRUG WAR

ACAYUCAN, Mexico - On a balmy evening in April, five sport-utility
vehicles full of gunmen roared up to the gates of the immigration
detention center here.

The gunmen pointed assault rifles at the guardhouse but entered
without firing a shot. They loaded up 13 Guatemalan detainees. Then,
they sped off into the night.

The raid is evidence of a disturbing new trend in the U.S.-backed war
against Mexico's drug cartels. The gunmen were apparently drug-cartel
henchmen, and the people they freed were Central Americans who had
been on their way to a cartel training camp.

Mexican traffickers are increasingly turning to Central America for
reinforcements, ammunition and help from corrupt authorities there,
experts say. The cartels are training Central American recruits at
camps in Guatemala and Mexico, infiltrating weak Central American
police forces and carving out "safe zones" in foreign countries beyond
the reach of Mexican authorities.

The developments reflect a major shift in drug-smuggling patterns and
show the cartels' continuing ability to evolve to avoid Mexico's
U.S.-backed crackdown, which began in 2006, said Helen Mack, president
of the Myrna Mack Foundation, a group that studies crime issues in
Guatemala.

"The Mexicans are gaining ground here, and the police can't stop
them," Mack said.

Three days after the April 19 raid in Acayucan, six of the freed
Guatemalans were recaptured in Tlaxcala state, hundreds of miles away.
They told authorities they were on their way to a Zeta cartel training
camp in the northern Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.

On May 19, at least three Guatemalans were among a group of eight
gunmen who attacked Mexican marines patrolling near San Carlos, a town
hundreds of miles north of Guatemala and just 80 miles south of the
Texas border.

In Guatemala last year, police found a Zetas training camp with an
arsenal of assault rifles and a stash of 500 grenades. Investigators
say they believe dozens of recruits were being taught how to ambush
police patrols.

Another Zetas weapon stash found near Guatemala City included 3,800
bullets and 560 grenades with markings indicating they had come from
the Guatemalan military.

"There's been so much focus on the U.S.-Mexico border that people
forget about the back door," said Fred Burton, vice president of
Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence firm.

In March, Guatemalan authorities arrested the national police chief on
charges of leaking information to the Zetas. In April, the chief of
anti-drug operations in Guatemala's Peten region was arrested on
similar charges.

"Entire regions of Guatemala are now essentially under the control of
(drug-trafficking organizations), the most visible of which is the
Mexican group known as the 'Zetas,' " a U.S. State Department report
said in March.

The Zetas are a gang that broke off from the once-powerful Gulf cartel
and now control most of the drug routes through eastern Mexico. But
other gangs are consolidating their power in Central America, too.

On April 27, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of Waldemar
Lorenzana Lima of Guatemala and his family, saying they were working
with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, leaders of
Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. The Sinaloa cartel controls routes through
western Mexico.

The Mexican traffickers are also strengthening their grip on Honduras,
Nicaragua and El Salvador, the U.S. State Department says.

In December, Honduran drug czar Julian Gonzalez warned publicly about
the growing presence of the Zetas, the Sinaloa cartel and La Familia
Michoacana. He was gunned down soon afterward.

The Mexican presence reflects a major change in the way drugs are
smuggled, said Mauricio Cardenas, a Latin America expert at the
Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

Until the early 2000s, Colombian producers moved most of their cocaine
through the Caribbean, and they controlled the entire route. But
better aerial radar and an increased naval presence have forced drug
shipments to go through Central America and Mexico.

That has increased the importance of the Mexican cartels, Cardenas
said. They are now moving quickly to take over the entire route,
co-opting Central American gang members and using them as foot
soldiers for the Mexican drug lords.

In Guatemala, street gangs that once used homemade weapons are now
wielding assault rifles provided by the Mexican cartels, Mack said.

"The Mexican cartels are not just about crossing the U.S. border -
they're about developing a multinational operation," Cardenas said.