The Connect- with Johnny Mitchell - I Trained With Cartel Hunters In Mexico

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

I went down to the Mexican state of Coahuila to train with a highly specialized tactical group that successful went to war with the notorious Los Zetas cartel and WON. They are so effective that there is no presence of major criminal organizations in the entire state. I wanted to see how Mexico's greatest group of cartel hunters trained firsthand and they were happy to show me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You know you're out of control when psychopaths like El Chapo and the Sinaloa cartel, never above a beheading or two themselves, tell you you're being too violent. We were taken way out to the sticks, about an hour outside of the city of Salteo in the middle of the Kualeeland Desert, to Salteo Safari, a private. shooting range often used for training by the military and the police. These cops are part of a group of elite tactical police for the state of Kuala, basically like a SWAT team. They have high-powered automatic rifles, all the coolest tactical gear, and a big old armored SWAT vehicle they use for chasing bad guys through the harsh desert terrain.

Okay, so we're here basically it's a private shooting range, but the state cops use it to train. And this motherfucker right here is a beast, they call it the Mamba. So it's all fucking, it's all armored, you know what I'm saying? Feel that. You come in here? By the way, they had none of this during the Zeta Cartel Wars. Now when they don't really need it, they have it. But that's just how life goes.

Check it out. Open it up. That seat right there is what hangs. And that's what the gunner who's sticking out the top when they're doing their rounds. That's what he sits on. Look at this. So you can bust out here. You can shoot from out of the front to this hole.

What they were telling us is that they use this in the super rural areas. So north, they don't take this like, you know, on normal highways. This is off-road shit. So for example, these group of guys over here, they told us last October, they went up against a group of cartels with 30 trucks

versus five of these, five of these armored things, and they wiped them out. They didn't take any losses. They basically killed, you know, scores of dudes. So it's effective, obviously. I'm of the opinion, after what I've learned, that this is mostly overkill. They don't really need it anymore as far as, you know, taking on cartels, right?

But look, they're paranoid. They went through fucking a decade of war and, you know, they're traumatized. So this is what they have. The irony is that during the time of the Zeta Wars, 2009 to 2015, They didn't have any of this shit. In fact, the Zetas were strapped way more than the cops were, at least at the beginning. Imagine having daily firefights and open desert warfare with armored cartel tanks and former soldiers with AK-47s who were trained at the School of the Americas by U.S. Army Rangers.

No thanks. That's certainly not my speed. I prefer weed and pussy. But I suppose Wright still triumphs over might. The Zetas mostly got killed and arrested or relocated north to Nuevo Laredo and started another fun little group called the Northeast Cartel. And now, amazingly, there are no large criminal organizations operating in the state of Kuala. That's great for the people and all. But what about these badass killing machines who want to cap some motherfuckers with their new state-of-the-art

weaponry? It gets a little boring all of this training, but as the saying goes, if you stay ready, then you ain't got to get ready. Me? I was raised around hippies and peace-loving pot dealers in the Pacific Northwest. I think guns and violence are all pretty gay. Or, or Or maybe I'm just saying that because when it comes to shooting, I suck. You know, I can't legally own firearms in the United States, but I'm here surrounded by Mexican military about to fucking let one off. I love this country. You don't know embarrassment until you've emptied out an entire magazine at a close-range target and missed everything, while an entire battalion of Mexican Zeta killers tries not to giggle. You motherfuckers think you big time?

Fuck it with me. You're going to die, big time. You're gonna be. Stick to YouTube, pince ya gringo. Well, it's harder than it looks. I'll say that. Tuck your arms in, foot forward, and just cast that fucking thing out.

Got it. Gling, cling, cling. There's Ed Calderone trying his best. He'll quickly realize that it's useless. But all he can hope for is that I don't accidentally discharge the gun into myself or worse, one of these young cops who are chomping at the bit for some action. And what better excuse to kill a gringo than a friendly friend fire incident.

There it is. To make matters even more humiliating, after wasting dozens of rounds and hitting nothing but the mountainside, Brian, my goddamn producer, took the rifle out of my hands and promptly went 10 for 10, center mass right on target. How dare he? His job is to make me look good. I should fire him. And then there's Ed, of course.

Yes, we get it, Ed. You're a badass. You've killed God knows how many 17-year-old Sicario's earning a thousand pay a week to guard an Ariano Felix trap house. Some hero. I can't help but wonder if all this is pointless, all this training and manpower and hardware, in an area where cartels haven't bothered operating in almost a decade. To be fair, there are still parts of Mexico that are no-go zones, usually regions in the interior of the country, rural municipalities,

rural municipalities and states like Zacatecas, Halisco, Guerrero, and Michoacan, regions that are still untouched by the long arm of gringo immigration and thus ignored by the Mexican federal government. But despite the clickbait, many, many more places, let's be honest, more important places, in Mexico have cleansed themselves of overt cartel violence, Tijuana, Guadalajara, even Ciudad Juarez is starting to become hostile to legacy criminal organizations. And this trend will only continue, especially as Mexico developed, gains the trust of international investors, and more and more Juarros like me

start moving there to escape the inevitable decline of the empire up north. So, why all the guns, fellas? You've won the war. Can't we all just get along? Let's have a beer or 20. But that's just not the way the world works, does it? I guess for as long as bad guys,

the sort of bad guys that comprise the Zeta cartel exist anywhere in Mexico. Cops like this will stay at the ready. Make America great again. Dude, you're there. You're there. Just keep going that way. You're right there. You're right there. That's what you need. There you go.

All right, you guys. That's all for today. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure to leave a like and a comment on the video. Sub to the channel if you haven't already. We will see you very soon. You've been watching The Connect with Johnny Mitchell.