Mexico City, May 15 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Members of the Jalisco drug cartel in Mexico have received paramilitary training from foreign military veterans, including from the United States, according to various Mexican authorities quoted in a Wall Street Journal report published on Wednesday.

Similarly to another high-profile criminal group called the Zetas, who were originally formed by army deserters previously trained by the United States, the New Generation Jalisco Cartel gang has been trained by foreign mercenaries, explained several sources interviewed by the paper.

The training included the use of rocket-propelled grenades, like the one used by cartel members to shoot down a Mexican military helicopter on May 1st which killed five Mexican soldiers.

“Former members of the Kaibiles, Guatemala’s feared army special forces, and Mexican military veterans have given strategic and paramilitary training to the gang,” said Alejandro Solorio, the Mexican state public security commissioner.

Captured cartel members also have said an American veteran — “a very aggressive, very wild U.S. Marine” — has also been training the group’s gunmen. “We believe he was paid a fortune to give them training,” Solorio added.

The cartel also functions with ranks and a hierarchy similar to the official armed forces’ model, claimed retired Mexican Air Force captain Alfonso Quintero.