3/30/2008: Intel News Brief: Additional Information on the Border Drug
Cartels:

There is no firm estimate of the number of people who have received
training in the camps, but a U.S. intelligence official said the
number was in the "hundreds" across Mexico.

It's all part of a strategy by drug cartels to intimidate their
enemies and assert control over besieged communities along the 2,000-
mile U.S.-Mexico border, the officials said. The result has been
unprecedented violence - at least 5,000 people killed nationwide in
two years - and ongoing brutal confrontations with local, state and
federal forces.

"The Zetas paramilitarized the situation with training camps and
military background," said a senior U.S. law enforcement official and
weapons specialist, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They turned
battles into a prolonged war."