Thread by @ElParece

From 1996-1999, the U.S. 7th SFG trained 3,200 GAFE soldiers from the MX SOF in counterinsurgency and irregular warfare. This would be the same 7th SFG that fought with and trained paramilitary forces in Central America in the Reagan era.

The GAFE soldiers got combat experience in Chiapas during the fight with the EZLN in 1994, where they used US training to "create paramilitary gangs, displace the population, [and] destroy the EZLN bases of support."

In 1997, Arturo Guzmán Decena, alias El Zeta-Uno (Z-1), "defected" from the GAFE to work with the Gulf cartel in Tamaulipas along with other U.S.-trained MX SOF soldiers. The rest is history.

According to this story from the U.S. SOCOM website, the 7th SFG trains SOF including the Kaibiles in Guatemala and GAFE in Mexico to this day.
socom.mil/Pages/KaibilUS…

The Kaibiles and the U.S. 7th SFG continue to leave their mark on Mexico.