Óscar Eduardo Guerrero Silva (1971 – 1 February 2004), commonly referred to by his alias Z-8 and/or The Winnie Pooh, was a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking leader of Los Zetas, a Mexican criminal organization. Shortly after marrying, Guerrero Silva joined the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army ( es, Ejército Mexicano) is the combined land and air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National ...

in early 1992 and became an infantry soldier. After being promoted to

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

the following year, he deserted from the military in 1999, and began to work as an assassin for the Los Zetas and Gulf Cartel, a drug trafficking organization, along with other ex-soldiers. His life as an outlaw overwhelmed him, and he later committed suicide through a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Criminal career

Óscar Eduardo Guerrero Silva was born in

Reynosa, Tamaulipas Reynosa () is a border city in the northern part of the state of Tamaulipas, in Mexico. It is also the municipal seat of Reynosa Municipality. The city is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande in the international Reynosa–McAllen Met ...

around the year 1971, and joined the

on 28 January 1992 as an infantry soldier. The following year, he was promoted to

. Nonetheless, he eventually deserted from the Armed Forces in 1999 and was recruited by the drug trafficking organization known as the Gulf Cartel, becoming one of the 50 most-wanted criminals in Mexico during his time. He was recruited along with several other soldiers of the Mexican Army in the late 1990s by

Osiel Cárdenas Guillén Osiel Cárdenas Guillén (born 18 May 1967) is a Mexican drug lord and the former leader of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Originally a mechanic in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, he entered the cartel by killing Juan García Abrego's friend and comp ...

, the former leader of the Gulf Cartel, to work as hired assassins and bodyguards, where he earned the alias ''Z-8''. The newly formed group founded by Guerrero Silva and other ex-soldiers became known as

Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate, regarded as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscr ...

, and they were highly trained and equipped, enticed with greater salaries than in the Army. Los Zetas continued to expand by hiring former police officers and gang members alike, and diversified their criminal agenda aggressively by including kidnappings, extortions, oil theft, piracy, and other rackets into their revenue, instead of focusing solely on the international narcotics trade. In December 2002, gunmen of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel wearing police uniforms raided a prison in

Matamoros, Tamaulipas Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and the municipal seat of the homonymous municipality. It is on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from ...

and liberated three men accused of drug trafficking and a woman imprisoned for homicide. The Mexican authorities alleged that Guerrero Silva was involved in the raid. Later on in January 2004, Apatzingán, Michoacán was the scene of a massive prison break when over 50 uniformed gunmen of Los Zetas, including Guerrero Silva, stormed several prison cells and liberated at least 25 inmates, including several high-ranking drug lords of the Gulf Cartel, in less than 15-minutes. Guerrero Silva was known for having one of the most bizarre and unique Mexican criminal nicknames, '' Winnie Pooh'', but he was "hardly a lovable bear".

Death

On 1 February 2004, elements of the extinct Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) raided a residence at the Riveras del Río neighborhood in Guadalupe, Nuevo León, near the city of Monterrey, and discovered the corpse of Guerrero Silva. His

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

had a gunshot wound from a 9mm pistol, suggesting that his death was an apparent suicide. Guerrero Silva was reportedly overwhelmed after the Mexican authorities had him under surveillance and because he believed his own accomplices were going to betray him.

Personal life and family

Gilberto López Barrera, the brother-in-law of Guerrero Silva and a member of Los Zetas drug cartel, was arrested in downtown Monterrey on 22 May 2005 and charged with a number of crimes. He is the brother of Ivonne López Barrera, a former romantic partner of Guerrero Silva. In 1990, two years before joining the Mexican Army, Guerrero Silva married Gabriela Cervantes Zamorano. Both of them stopped seeing each other in 1997, and his wife later found out that he had deserted the military and was working for Los Zetas. Gabriela recalls that Guerrero Silva would send her money and call her on the phone every now and then, but that he seemed uninterested in their matrimony. Although married to Gabriela, Guerrero Silva had a romantic relationship with another woman, which explains why he visited Guadalupe, Nuevo León from

(his actual residence) periodically.

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