By Chris Hawley
ACAYUCAN, Mexico - On a balmy evening in April, five sport-utility vehicles full of gunmen roared up to the gates of the immigration detention center here.
The gunmen pointed assault rifles at the guardhouse but entered without firing a shot. They loaded up 13 Guatemalan detainees. Then, they sped off into the night.
The raid is evidence of a disturbing new trend in the U.S.-backed war against Mexico's drug cartels. The gunmen were apparently drug-cartel henchmen, and the people they freed were Central Americans who had been on their way to a cartel training camp.
Mexican traffickers are increasingly turning to Central America for reinforcements, ammunition and help from corrupt authorities there, experts say. The cartels are training Central American recruits at camps in Guatemala and Mexico, infiltrating weak Central American police forces and carving out "safe zones" in foreign countries beyond the reach of Mexican authorities.
The developments reflect a major shift in drug-smuggling patterns and show the cartels' continuing ability to evolve to avoid Mexico's U.S.-backed crackdown, which began in 2006, said Helen Mack, president of the Myrna Mack Foundation, a group that studies crime issues in Guatemala.
