Mexico Steps Up Security After Drug Lord's Capture Arrest of Gulf Cartel Kingpin Is New Blow to Criminal Groups
Mexico has reinforced security in the northeast of the country to
head off possible violence following the capture of the head of the Gulf
Cartel, once one of Mexico's most powerful drug-trafficking
organizations, Mexican officials said on Sunday.
Mexican government-security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said Mexican soldiers captured Mario Armando Ramirez Treviño, also known as "X-20" and "El Pelon," or Baldy, and two other alleged Gulf Cartel members without firing a shot on Saturday.
The government has stepped up security in the northeast in case the members of the cartel or its rivals try to take advantage of Mr. Ramirez Trevino's arrest to "reposition themselves and expand their areas of influence," which would result in increasing violence, Mr. Sanchez said.
Mr. Sanchez's announcement of increased security was an admission of one of the great ironies of Mexico's efforts against drug cartels: Many times, violence goes up in an area where the Mexican government has captured a criminal boss as rivals or underlings go to war to take over the position.
Mr. Ramirez Trevino "is one of the principal people responsible for the violence that has been generated in the state of Tamaulipas," Mr. Sanchez said, referring to the northeast border state. Mr. Ramirez Trevino used "extreme violence" and is responsible for kidnappings as well as bomb attacks against police, Mr. Sanchez said.
The arrest is a boost for President Enrique Peña Nieto, who has promised to continue fighting the drug war begun by former President Felipe Calderón, while focusing more of the government's attention on lowering Mexico's high rates of drug-linked homicides, extortion and kidnapping. Drug-linked killings in the first half of the year have fallen about 18%, to 6,300, from the prior six months, said Mexican government officials
The Gulf Cartel, which once had a virtual monopoly on drug trafficking on Mexico's Gulf coast, has been decimated in recent years by bloody turf wars with other criminal groups and by government captures of leading cartel bosses. Mr. Ramirez Treviño's detention is the second capture of a top cartel boss in little over a month. In July, Mexican navy marines captured Miguel Angel Treviño, the head of the Zetas cartel—Mexico's most violent organized-crime group—and no relation to Mr. Ramirez Treviño.
Mr. Ramirez Treviño, 51 years old, is
wanted for drug trafficking in the U.S., which comes with a $5 million
reward for information leading to his capture. He had taken over the
leadership of the Gulf Cartel from Jorge Costilla, known as "El Coss,"
who was captured in September.
The Gulf Cartel's power has been much diminished since it became embroiled in a turf war with the Zetas. Originally a group of army special-forces deserters who became enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas have been fighting their former employers since 2010.
"The Gulf Cartel is a shadow of what it was," said Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican security official who now works for the nonprofit Mexican Institute of Competitiveness. "The capture of Ramirez Treviño is an important capture, but not of the first rank."
Mr. Sanchez said Saturday's arrest was made possible by a raid last week in which authorities captured 24 cartel members. He said the government's strategy is to provide security for the residents of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, states that have in recent years become among Mexico's most dangerous, mostly because of turf wars between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas.
Mr. Ramirez Treviño's base was the border city of Reynosa, which this year was rocked by a wave of violence as Mr. Ramirez Treviño's group fought off other criminal gangs.
"I see him as the capo who controlled the city," said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, associate professor and expert on the border at the University of Texas at Brownsville.
Since taking office in December, Mr. Peña Nieto has focused on enacting a set of ambitious economic reforms including opening Mexico's energy sector to private investment. But outbreaks of drug violence, notably in the western state of Michoacán where a drug cartel known as the Knights Templar has been confronting the Mexican armed forces and federal police, have managed at times to steal attention from Mr. Peña Nieto's overhaul agenda.
In July, the Knights Templar ambushed and killed a navy vice admiral, the highest-ranking military officer killed since Mr. Calderón sent the armed forces in 2006 to recover large swaths of territory lost to powerful drug gangs. At least 70,000 Mexicans have died in drug-linked violence since then.
The violence in Michoacán continued over the weekend. The bodies of nine people who had been killed were found in an agricultural area of the state where armed community-defense groups have emerged to fight back against the Knights Templar. Media reports said another 17 bodies were found in the neighboring state of Guerrero, which also has been the site of turf wars between criminal organizations.
"Peña Nieto thought the security issue was going to disappear if he didn't talk about it, but all of a sudden it has re-emerged and it will continue to do so," said Jorge Chabat, a security expert at CIDE, a Mexico City-based think tank. "That area is out of control."
Mr. Chabat said the capture should also help the Mexican government recoup some ground after the surprise release this month of Rafael Caro Quintero, a notorious drug lord who was convicted of the 1985 torture-murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. Mr. Caro Quintero, 61, who was serving a 40-year sentence, was ordered freed after serving 28 years in prison, by a panel of judges that concluded he had been tried before the wrong court.
The order to free him, after which he disappeared, angered the U.S. government, which wants Mr. Caro Quintero extradited. At the time, Mr. Camarena's brutal murder plunged relations between Mexico and the U.S. into their worst crisis in years.
Since Mr. Caro Quintero's release, a Mexican judge has ordered he be detained and held for extradition to the U.S. But it is uncertain whether he will ever be found. The decision to free him will continue to be an irritant in U.S.-Mexican relations, Mr. Chabat said.
"It complicates things for the Mexican government, which looks inept or corrupt or both," Mr. Chabat said.
Mexican government-security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said Mexican soldiers captured Mario Armando Ramirez Treviño, also known as "X-20" and "El Pelon," or Baldy, and two other alleged Gulf Cartel members without firing a shot on Saturday.
The government has stepped up security in the northeast in case the members of the cartel or its rivals try to take advantage of Mr. Ramirez Trevino's arrest to "reposition themselves and expand their areas of influence," which would result in increasing violence, Mr. Sanchez said.
Mr. Sanchez's announcement of increased security was an admission of one of the great ironies of Mexico's efforts against drug cartels: Many times, violence goes up in an area where the Mexican government has captured a criminal boss as rivals or underlings go to war to take over the position.
Mr. Ramirez Trevino "is one of the principal people responsible for the violence that has been generated in the state of Tamaulipas," Mr. Sanchez said, referring to the northeast border state. Mr. Ramirez Trevino used "extreme violence" and is responsible for kidnappings as well as bomb attacks against police, Mr. Sanchez said.
The arrest is a boost for President Enrique Peña Nieto, who has promised to continue fighting the drug war begun by former President Felipe Calderón, while focusing more of the government's attention on lowering Mexico's high rates of drug-linked homicides, extortion and kidnapping. Drug-linked killings in the first half of the year have fallen about 18%, to 6,300, from the prior six months, said Mexican government officials
The Gulf Cartel, which once had a virtual monopoly on drug trafficking on Mexico's Gulf coast, has been decimated in recent years by bloody turf wars with other criminal groups and by government captures of leading cartel bosses. Mr. Ramirez Treviño's detention is the second capture of a top cartel boss in little over a month. In July, Mexican navy marines captured Miguel Angel Treviño, the head of the Zetas cartel—Mexico's most violent organized-crime group—and no relation to Mr. Ramirez Treviño.
The Gulf Cartel's power has been much diminished since it became embroiled in a turf war with the Zetas. Originally a group of army special-forces deserters who became enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas have been fighting their former employers since 2010.
"The Gulf Cartel is a shadow of what it was," said Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican security official who now works for the nonprofit Mexican Institute of Competitiveness. "The capture of Ramirez Treviño is an important capture, but not of the first rank."
Mr. Sanchez said Saturday's arrest was made possible by a raid last week in which authorities captured 24 cartel members. He said the government's strategy is to provide security for the residents of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, states that have in recent years become among Mexico's most dangerous, mostly because of turf wars between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas.
Mr. Ramirez Treviño's base was the border city of Reynosa, which this year was rocked by a wave of violence as Mr. Ramirez Treviño's group fought off other criminal gangs.
"I see him as the capo who controlled the city," said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, associate professor and expert on the border at the University of Texas at Brownsville.
Since taking office in December, Mr. Peña Nieto has focused on enacting a set of ambitious economic reforms including opening Mexico's energy sector to private investment. But outbreaks of drug violence, notably in the western state of Michoacán where a drug cartel known as the Knights Templar has been confronting the Mexican armed forces and federal police, have managed at times to steal attention from Mr. Peña Nieto's overhaul agenda.
In July, the Knights Templar ambushed and killed a navy vice admiral, the highest-ranking military officer killed since Mr. Calderón sent the armed forces in 2006 to recover large swaths of territory lost to powerful drug gangs. At least 70,000 Mexicans have died in drug-linked violence since then.
The violence in Michoacán continued over the weekend. The bodies of nine people who had been killed were found in an agricultural area of the state where armed community-defense groups have emerged to fight back against the Knights Templar. Media reports said another 17 bodies were found in the neighboring state of Guerrero, which also has been the site of turf wars between criminal organizations.
"Peña Nieto thought the security issue was going to disappear if he didn't talk about it, but all of a sudden it has re-emerged and it will continue to do so," said Jorge Chabat, a security expert at CIDE, a Mexico City-based think tank. "That area is out of control."
Mr. Chabat said the capture should also help the Mexican government recoup some ground after the surprise release this month of Rafael Caro Quintero, a notorious drug lord who was convicted of the 1985 torture-murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. Mr. Caro Quintero, 61, who was serving a 40-year sentence, was ordered freed after serving 28 years in prison, by a panel of judges that concluded he had been tried before the wrong court.
The order to free him, after which he disappeared, angered the U.S. government, which wants Mr. Caro Quintero extradited. At the time, Mr. Camarena's brutal murder plunged relations between Mexico and the U.S. into their worst crisis in years.
Since Mr. Caro Quintero's release, a Mexican judge has ordered he be detained and held for extradition to the U.S. But it is uncertain whether he will ever be found. The decision to free him will continue to be an irritant in U.S.-Mexican relations, Mr. Chabat said.
"It complicates things for the Mexican government, which looks inept or corrupt or both," Mr. Chabat said.
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