Posted on 05/19/2005 11:24:40 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Rival cartel leaders share roof in border prison
— Mexican authorities on Tuesday transferred a Tijuana Cartel drug lord to a Matamoros maximum-security prison that also holds leaders from the rival Caro-Quintero Cartel.
Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix was among nine high-profile inmates transferred from the La Palma maximum-security prison outside Mexico City to two other facilities near Jalisco and Matamoros.
Officials confirmed that Arellano was one of five prisoners brought to the CEFERESO No. 3 outside of Matamoros, but would not say which of the others were brought here.
According to a written statement from the Federal Department of Public Safety (SSPF), the other prisoners were identified as Mario Cardenas Guillen, Lucio Don Juan Govea, Albino Quintero Meraz, Jose Ramirez Villanueva, Jose Luis Somoza Frasquillo, Marcos Tinoco Gancedo, Jaime Leonardo Valencia Fontes and Victor Manuel Vazquez Mireles.
The men are identified as members of drug cartels and other organized crime organizations.
According to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency profile, Arellano was the original head of the Tijuana Cartel, which is listed as the most powerful and aggressive in Mexico.
SSPF spokesman Gustavo Castillo said in a telephone interview from Mexico City that he could not confirm which of the other eight prisoners were taken to Matamoros for security reasons.
Castillo said the same concerns prevented him from elaborating on what, if any, improved security measures were taken at the Matamoros and Jalisco prisons.
Arellano and the other four transferred inmates are now housed in the same prison as cartel leaders, brothers Rafael and Miguel Angel Caro Quintero, who have been housed in Matamoros since January.
Six guards were kidnapped and executed outside the prison four days after Miguel Angel Caro Quintero arrived at the Matamoros prison on Jan. 16.
The executions remain under investigation.
schapa@brownsvilleherald.com
If the champagne isn't good enough there, they'll fire the Governor. ;)
Prison Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
"'Matamoros' means kill moors (muslims) in Spanish."
Does the MCLU know about this?
Is there any evidence that this has had any effect on the drug trade? Or is it just another feel-good photo-op in the futile War On Drugs?
About the same effect as on other crimes in Mexico, like kidnapping, rape and murder.
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/crime/eighthsurvey/8sc.pdf
Scroll down and click on Mexico.
As they used to say in the Roman Colluseum: "let the games begin."
The Mexican government must have decided to kick these guys out and sell the franchise to someone new.
I see no data there on how law enforcement affects those crime rates.
Same for drug trades.
You're welcome.
Of course we don't have any data for emptying all the prisons in Mexico. But I'd be willing to guess it would not be good for the average citizen.
Taking a victimless 'crime' off the books has nothing to do with "emptying all the prisons."
Mexican drug WARlords have no victims?
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