Mexican law enforcement had plenty of reason to celebrate yesterday with the capture of a key figure in the Los Zetas drug cartel. Los Zetas is perhaps the country's most feared criminal organization, responsible for thousands of horrific executions and brutal attacks against competitors, police and civilians alike. The government says that the Zetas ("Z's") are composed of former elite special forces troops of the Mexican military.
Raúl Lucio Hernández Lechuga, also known as Fernández Lechuga, and sometimes as "El Lucky" or "Zeta 16," was captured by Mexican marines on a highway between Veracruz and Mexico City. Hernández was taken into custody after a brief firefight in which one of his bodyguards was killed and a solider was injured.
A military spokesperson described Hernández Lechuga as a co-founder of Los Zetas, and said that he answered directly to Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, the alleged # 1 Zeta. Firearms, cartridges, grenade launchers and other hardware were seized by government troops during the operation, which was the result of more than a year of joint "national and international" investigation and intelligence analysis, according to security forces.
The arrest of Hernández Lechuga so cheered Mexican president Felipe Calderón that he reported it in a Twitter message to tens of thousands of followers. His administration says that Hernández Lechuga has been one of the most 37 wanted cartel leaders since 2009. Twenty-two on that list have been taken down since Calderón's offensive against the drug cartels was launched in December 2006.
"El Lucky" - whose adeptness at evading capture finally gave out - was in charge of Los Zetas operations in the states of Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, Campeche, Querétaro, Quintana Roo and Mexico, government sources said. Mexico had offered 30 million pesos (about $2.2 million USD) for Hernández' arrest, while in the United States the Drug Enforcement Administration had posted a bounty of $5 million.
Until 2008, Los Zetas was a heavily armed security force for the Gulf Cartel, charged with eliminating competitors and guarding drug routes and shipments headed to the U.S. border. The organizations became bitter enemies after Los Zetas terminated the relationship and entered the lucrative narcotics trade as a principal. Now they're one of Mexico's and Latin America's most powerful drug cartels.
July 15, 2013 - Top Los Zeta boss, Z-40, arrested in Nuevo Laredo
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