Mexico's Gulf cartel undaunted by military assault

Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:31 PM ET

By Robin Emmott

REYNOSA, Mexico (Reuters) - In one of its most audacious moves yet, Mexico's Gulf cartel drug gang this week openly advertised for army troops to desert and join it in a fight that has killed some 900 people this year.

The cartel's feared Zetas hit squad strung banners from bridges over main roads in the towns of Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo on the U.S. border offering well-paid jobs.

"The Zetas want you, soldier or former soldier. We offer a good salary, food and family care. Don't go hungry any longer," the ads read.

The cartel, based across the border from Texas, is Mexico's most violent gang in a war between rival drug smugglers that the army has deployed thousands of troops to try to quash.

"This shows how brazen, how arrogant they are, born of the huge profits that drug trafficking brings," said Steve Robertson, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent.

"They want to be known as the biggest and baddest, they aim to intimidate. Violence is their way of life," he said.