Posted on 07/04/2005 4:38:38 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Police believe they may have arrested Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the leader of Mexico's top drug cartel, Mexican President Vicente Fox's spokesman said Monday.
Ruben Aguilar said Mexico's Federal Agency of Investigation arrested the man Saturday at a shopping mall in Mexico City. He said the suspect, who went by the name Joaquin Romero, was being fingerprinted and his DNA was being checked to confirm his real identity.
"Right now, it is likely Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, but it isn't completely confirmed," Aguilar said.
Drug leaders often use false names and change their appearance to avoid capture. Carrillo Fuentes' brother, Amado, led the cartel until 1997, when he was believed to have died during botched plastic surgery.
If confirmed, the detention of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes would be a blow to the Juarez cartel, the only drug gang that hasn't had a top leader arrested amid a nationwide crackdown.
As rival organizations — including the Gulf cartel and the feared Arellano Felix gang — lost their leaders to government operatives, the Juarez cartel flourished and has been waging a bloody battle for control of drug routes all along the U.S. border.
But U.S. and Mexican law enforcement authorities say Carrillo Fuentes' influence within the Juarez organization has been on the decline.
Juan Jose Esparragoza — also known as "El Azul," or Blue — has worked his way to the top of the organization along with several other men with close ties to cocaine producers in Colombia, according to the Mexican Attorney General's office and the FBI.
In Ciudad Juarez, across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas, residents and authorities alike were on edge waiting to see if Carrillo Fuentes really had been captured and what it would mean.
"We're tired already and scared to go out a see any old citizen taken out, like they've been taken out," Gustavo Arango, leader of a citizens' advocacy group.
Juarez Police Director Juan Salgado said he had not gotten any official news of the capture, but put his officers on alert anyway.
The Juarez-based gang's power became legendary in the 1980s and 90s under Amado Carrillo — better known as "The Lord of the Skies" — for flying planeloads of cocaine into the United States.
In recent months, the Juarez cartel's battle to control the few spots out of its reach along the U.S.-Mexico border — mainly the city of Tijuana to the west and the stretch of border between Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros to the east — has left scores dead and prompted U.S. officials to warn tourists about traveling to Mexico's northern border area.
Mexican authorities said the ruthless offensive by the Juarez cartel prompted the formation of a rival alliance by Osiel Cardenas, who allegedly ran the Tamaulipas-based Gulf cartel, and Benjamin Arellano Felix, who police say led the Tijuana-based smuggling syndicate bearing his family name.
The two are said to have joined forces behind bars at one of Mexico's top-security prison. They were separated as part of a crackdown on prison corruption.
Since taking office in 2000, Fox has pledged to wage "the mother of all battles" against drug traffickers.
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Associated Press Writer Marina Montemayor contributed to this report from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Hope that it's him!
I'll bet the Mexican "authorities" hope so too. He'll have to pay a lot of people a lot of bribes. Their economy will start booming.
He'll be out in a few hours, and they'll say "no, it wasn't him."
While they "wait" for a confirmation, negotiations for a sizable bribe are currently in progress. The results of the "tests" will hinge on the negotiations.
Mexican "police" say 'they all look the same'!!!
There are a hundred more ready to take his place, the money's good. Blackbird.
How does the violence and control of the US-Mexico border by this gang compare to the US-El Salvador drug/murder gang Mara Salvatrucha?
From what I understand, members of Mara Salvatrucha illegally cross the border with the same impunity and officially sanctioned neglience by US officials that poor migrants do, you know, the same ones looking for jobs Americans won't do.
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