Dear Editor,

When the bodies of four George Street gang members were found with their heads nearly cut off, without any supporting evidence the hue and cry went up that the near decapitations were the work of the Gang Suppression Unit (GSU).

If one looks at the manner of the killings, such near decapitation has never been a method of killing used by the GSU.

However, decapitation is clearly the method of killing (MO) used by the enforcers for the Mexican drug cartels. In Mexican towns that border the US, bodies with their heads cut off are frequently found. There have been as many as a dozen bodies found at the same time at the same location, with all with their heads cut off.

Decapitation is the MO of the Mexican drug cartels, not the GSU.

The cartel’s enforcers are primarily former special service soldiers of the Mexican army, trained to kill. One will recall that, about two years ago, three armed Mexican nationals were arrested in Belize. They produced evidence that they had been, or were, members of the Mexican Army. The then Minister of National Security, citing an absurd reason, ordered their release.

Presently, there is a Mexican national in Belize custody that was caught coming into Belize with cocaine and a large numbers of guns. He had obviously brought the guns into Belize for distribution to those involved in drug trafficking, together with the cocaine to pay for a prior trans-shipment of cocaine to the cartels.

Cocaine is the manner in which the cartels pay for such trans-shipments that come through Belize.

During August of 2002, George Herbert, the don who then bossed the George Street gang, was kidnapped. His kidnappers were enforcers from Mexico’s Juarez Cartel. It was contended that George Herbert had stolen a shipment of the cartels’ cocaine. Gang members pursued the kidnappers and after a gunfight, in which at least one of the kidnappers was hit, George Herbert was released.

George Herbert was subsequently extradited to the United States. He was convicted of conspiring with the Juarez Cartel to import 12 tons of cocaine that were passing through Belize, headed for the United States. George Herbert is now serving, a 33-year prison sentence in a federal penitentiary located in the State of New York.

Concerning the George Street gang episode, pictures shown on TV showed that the locks had been broken off the doors that were necessary to gain access to the rooms where the bodies of the four victims were found. If the GSU wants entry, they can generally obtain such entry without breaking locks.

The drug cartels do not need GSU’s assistance. When they have a score to settle, history has shown that the cartel’s enforcers come to Belize and settle it without help.

If one puts bias and prejudice aside and looks at the facts and history, logically, there is no present evidence that the GSU was involved. The evidence clearly indicates that killers, from a Mexican drug cartel, came to Belize to settle another score. They left their trademark, decapitation, as a terror warning to intimidate others. They want all to know who did the killing and the dangers of double-crossing or interfering with the cartel.

Kenneth Gale,
Judge of the Superior Court, Retired