Guadalajara -
Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, the highest ranking official of Mexico's powerful Los Zetas drug cartel, was captured today by Mexican marines near Nuevo Laredo, a border town in deadly Tamaulipas state.
The arrest was the biggest victory yet for president Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office in December with a promise to reduce drug war violence in this country of 118 million.
Mexico began a controversial offensive against the cartels on Dec. 11, 2006, during the administration of former president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. President Peña Nieto has stuck to the core militarization strategy - even expanding upon it - but with slight cosmetic modifications.
Treviño Morales assumed control of the Zetas last October, after his predecessor, Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, was killed by marines during a gun battle in the northern state of Coahuila. Lazcano's body was stolen hours later from a local funeral home where it had been carried by soldiers, presumably by family members or cartel operatives. It was never recovered. Mexican security forces kill Los Zetas leader in gun battle.
The United States had offered a reward of $5 million dollars for Treviño, and Mexico $2.3 million.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued a statement Tuesday morning congratulating Mexico for its capture of the narco kingpin. DEA did not say whether it had provided information to Mexico which led to the arrest.
From his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he now teaches at Harvard, former president Calderón congratulated Mexican marines.
Government spokesman Eduardo Sánchez Hernández said that Treviño, 40, was taken "without a shot being fired." He was transported immediately to Organized Crime Strike Force headquarters in Mexico City. Sánchez said the arrest came after an intensive eight month investigation by several federal agencies.
Treviño and his security team routinely moved about off road to avoid detection, Sánchez said. His primary operational area was in Coahuila and Tamaulipas states, both on the U.S. border.
Several other Zetas were arrested with Treviño. The men were carrying automatic weapons, cartridges and $2 million dollars in U.S. currency.
Sánchez said there are seven arrest warrants for Treviño in Mexico, where he stands accused of organized crime membership, murder, narcotics trafficking, torture, money laundering and firearms violations.
The most serious charge against Treviño accuses him of ordering the execution of 265 Central American migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas in 2010. Some of those victims may have been recruited by Los Zetas for drug trafficking or other criminal enterprises. When their work was done they were killed, as were those who refused to participate, investigators believe.
Treviño began his criminal career as a messenger boy for a long defunct gang in Nuevo Laredo. He soon graduated to fencing stolen autos, and later worked as a drug mule along the border. He joined the Zetas in the late 90s, before they were an independent cartel. In 2005 Treviño was named "boss of the plaza" in Nuevo Laredo, charged with protecting lucrative drug routes from interlopers. He quickly developed a reputation for brutality in business, and locals "lived in terror of his fury," Guadalajara's El Informador reported this morning.
Treviño was Lazcano's "right hand," the paper said. Before the latter's death last year, he named Z-40 comandante nacional of the Zetas.
Treviño's brother, José Treviño Morales, was arrested in Oklahoma in June 2012 in a high profile case involving a multi-million dollar quarter horse racing scheme and money laundering. Feds bust Los Zeta money washers in U.S.. Several other Mexicans were prosecuted with José, and were alleged to be on the payroll of Z-40. All were convicted May 9. Zeta money washers on trial in Texas federal court.
Los Zetas is one of the most dreaded criminal organizations in this country, specializing in the torture, decapitation and sometimes quartering of victims. It is locked in a deadly war with the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel and other groups to control narcotics trafficking and related criminal enterprises in Mexico. At one time the Zetas were the so-called brazo armado - armed wing - of the Gulf Cartel, charged with providing personal security for top Gulf bosses and protecting northbound shipments of drugs. Many Zetas are former Mexican special forces soldiers, some trained by the U.S. military.
The United States Dept. of State has labeled Los Zetas a TCO - Transnational Criminal Organization, a proposition with which the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) agrees. Last year UNODC said Los Zetas are the "dominant force" in Central America, noting that they have a foothold in Belize, which borders Mexico's southeastern Quintana Roo state. That fact accounts, in part, for the burgeoning narco violence along Q.R.'s Riviera Maya, a mainstay of this country's tourist trade.
On Apr. 30 the new Institutional Revolutionary Party government scored another major coup when it arrested Inés Coronel Barrera, the father-in-law of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, in Agua Prieta, Mexico, just across the border from Douglas, Arizona. But the aging El Chapo, the most wanted drug trafficker in the world and on the lam since his escape from a Mexican prison in early 2001, continues to elude the PRI administration, which would like nothing better than to take him down.
July 17 - Zeta boss Z-40 already making legal demands, filing suits
July 17 - Obama: high praise for Peña Nieto in capture of top Zeta
July 16 - Mexican army shines again in Treviño Morales takedown
May 24, 2013 - Los Zetas gunman pleads guilty to 2011 execution of U.S. ICE agent
Feb. 17, 2013 - Guatemalan ambassador warns of growing Los Zeta presence in his country
Jan. 22, 2013 - Los Zetas pay a call on Puerto Vallarta
June 15, 2012 - Mexican marines arrest top financial aid to Z-40, Zeta # 2
Jan. 13, 2012 - Top Zeta leader arrested; linked to 50 murders, including U.S. ICE agent in 2011
Jan. 1, 2012 - Yucatán - and half of Mexico - belong to Los Zetas, says deputy attorney general
Dec. 13, 2011 - Top boss of Los Zetas arrested in Veracruz - said to be co-founder of dreaded cartel
May 17, 2013 - Mexican military still at vanguard of the drug war
Feb. 1, 2013 - Human Rights Watch's condemnation of Mexican drug war reveals little understanding of conflict
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
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