“I’m terrified of being incarcerated,” Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada told the Mexican news magazine, Proceso, adding that he would even contemplate suicide if he was about to be caught. “I’d like to think that yes, I would kill myself.”

http://www.mexico.vg/tag/mexicos-drug-cartels

Zambada and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who authorities say control the Sinaloa cartel, are Mexico’s two most-notorious fugitives, with a $2 million reward offered for information on their whereabouts.

Zambada offered to meet with Proceso founder Julio Scherer, saying he always wanted to meet the journalist. He gave specific directions on when and where the interview would take place, the publication said.

“When it comes to the capos, jailed, dead or extradited — their replacements are ready,” Zambada said.

Guzman, who escaped prison by hiding in a laundry truck nearly a decade ago, has made Forbes magazine’s lists of wealthiest and most-powerful people.

“El Chapo Guzman and I are friends and we talk on the phone a lot,” Zambada said. He even said he might try to arrange an interview between Guzman and Proceso.

Mexican Drug violence has killed more than 18,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, and has made the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where Sinaloa is fighting a turf battle against the Juarez cartel, one of the world’s most dangerous cities.

“Right now it appears there is an internal dispute for control of the organization,” Pequeno said. “On one side is `La Barbie’ and on the other side is Hector Beltran, the natural heir of the organization.”

Pequeno said the battle was unleashed when cartel leader Arturo Beltran Leyva died in a shootout with Mexican marines in December. Both men are apparently carrying out killings in bids to take control of the gang, one of Mexico’s most powerful

With the emergence of a “narcobanners” signed by the Zetas , boteing that they want “the square” and opens the door for a possible war between this criminal group and Edgar Valdez Villarreal, “La Barbie,” deputy leader of the assassins of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

This would push La Barbie to join its fight against los Zetas by joining the Sinaloa Cartel , Gulf Cartel and La Familia Michoacana in their bid to exterminate the Zetas in Mexico. Cartels have grown tired of bad press linking them with bank robbers , kidnappers and rapist , thus deciding to end groups like los Zetas that have negative views from most Mexicans that believe citizens and families should not be targeted in drug wars.

Edgar Valdez Villarreal

Authorities say a U.S.-born hitman is fighting the brother of a deceased drug lord for control of the Beltran-Leyva cartel, marking what may be the first time an American has risen to the very top ranks of the Mexican Cartel.

Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico’s federal police, said Tuesday that Texas-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, nicknamed “La Barbie,” is battling Hector Beltran Leyva for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

“Right now it appears there is an internal dispute for control of the organization , On one side is `La Barbie‘ and on the other side is Hector Beltran, the natural heir of the organization.”

Pequeno said the battle was unleashed when cartel leader Arturo Beltran Leyva died in a shootout with Mexican marines in December. Both men are apparently carrying out killings in bids to take control of the Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful.

http://www.mexico.vg/tag/mexicos-drug-cartels

Cartels of Mexico

One of Mexico’s most violent drug Cartels “The Gulf Cartel” has turned against its former armed wing in the latest outburst of killings on the U.S. border to test President Felipe Calderon’s overstretched army crackdown.

Banners were hung across Reynosa on Wednesday telling the army to leave and vowing the Gulf cartel and its allies will defeat the Zetas.

“You fight poison with the same poison,” read the banners, signed “Cartels of Mexico United against the Zetas.”

At least five attacks took place in Nuevo Laredo and the state of Nuevo Leon over the weekend, led apparently by members of the Gulf cartel who allegedly drove from the Matamoros-Reynosa area in search of members of the Zetas, according to the U.S. intelligence official. Their convoy included 20 SUVs with the logo, “CdG [Gulf Cartel]” and “X” plastered on the backs of the vehicles to distinguish themselves from the Zetas. The vehicles carried an undetermined number of heavily armed men.

Using grenade launchers, they struck police installations that are known to be associated with the Zetas, according to accounts that couldn’t be independently confirmed by authorities in Mexico City.

http://www.mexico.vg/tag/mexicos-drug-cartels

Mexican Federal Police confirmed the arrest of José Vázquez Villagrana, known by his alias “El jabalí ‘and identified as an important member of the Sinaloa cartel, responsible for moving the drugs from Nicaragua to Colombia and destined for the United States. The head of Mexico’s Drug Enforcement Division, Small Ramon Eduardo Garcia, has stated in a press conference that the arrest occurred in the town of Santana in the state of Sonora, without making a shot.  During the operation, authorities also seized an antiaircraft machine gun capable of firing 800 rounds per minute and with a range of 1,500 meters. Vazquez Villagrana surti moved more than two tons of cocaine every month for Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel and one of the most wanted drug traffickers in the country after importing from Nicaragua, Jamaica and Colombia via Panama. Mexican officials argue that ‘El jabalí‘ using their own airplanes for drug shipments.  It is believed that performed at least three to five shipments, with up to one ton per trip. According to preliminary data, the drug dealer also had contacts with Alfredo Beltran Leyva, known by his alias “El Mochomo ‘and brother of the late drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva. The arrest of ‘The Mochomo’ in 2008 did away with the alliance between the cartel of the Beltran Leyva brothers and dome of the Sinaloa cartel.

Vazquez’s capture comes amid accusations that the government of President Felipe Calderón has not fought the Sinaloa cartel with the same scowl that to other gangs.

In that telephone conversation, with El Chapo Guzman , he was told  that area does not allow anyone charged with stealing, and kidnapping or assaulted, and that the people who did it had to get her out of there. “

In addition to drug trafficking, authorities say, the Zetas are involved in extortion, kidnapping, producing pirated CDs and DVDs, sales of alcohol and migrant smuggling.-

The gang has been locked in a bloody turf war

in western Mexico with a gang known as La Familia, which on Monday posted banners around the state of Michoacan calling on Mexicans to join its fight against the Zetas and help clean the streets from the dirty thugs.

La Familia Michoacana: Drug trafficking and protection.

unlike the zetas this drug cartel is not killing innocent people , furthermore it goes out of its way to tell people not to associate themselves with the zetas. La Familia Michoacana also helps communities by punishing thieves , rapist and extortionist.

The highway shootout was the latest outbreak of violence in Torreon, which is the center of a region known as the Laguna, a major milk producer.

Early Sunday, 10 people died and 13 were wounded when four gunmen in a convoy burst into a Torreon bar and opened fire with high-powered weapons. Bodies were strewn on the sidewalk outside and inside the bar.

On Tuesday, a written message surfaced on YouTube that referred to the Sunday slayings. It warned Torreon authorities and residents against having anything to do with the Zetas, including patronizing bars that it said the gang runs.

-www.latimes.com

The capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simental, who was captured last month. Teodoro and Manuel Garcia are brothers.

Lopez, known as “El Muletas,” and Garcia, known as “El Chiquilin,” were arrested Monday in La Paz, a city in the southern end of the Baja California peninsula, said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She had no further details on the operation that led to their capture.

“The soldiers are not leaving. On the contrary, we are redoubling patrols with 100 percent of our personnel. There will be soldiers everywhere,” said army spokesman Enrique Torres in Ciudad Juarez.

Calderon’s strategy in the border city, the bloodiest front in his war against drug cartels, is stumbling as rights groups accuse soldiers and police of rounding up innocent residents in violent house raids and beating confessions out of suspects.

Calderon, who has sent soldiers across Mexico to fight drug cartels, has said the unprecedented military presence in Ciudad Juarez is only temporary and soldiers will be replaced by newly trained police.

Mexican security forces captured a top drug trafficker behind much of a surge in violence in the northern border city of Tijuana on Tuesday in a fresh victory for the country’s drug war, government and police sources said.

Teodoro Garcia Simental, known as “El Teo” or “Tres Letras” for the three letters in his nickname, was caught in the beach town of La Paz in southern Baja California, a police officer who participated in the operation told Reuters. A government official also confirmed the arrest. Garcia Simental is thought to have split off from the Tijuana-based Arellano Feliz cartel to help efforts by Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman — head of the rival Sinaloa cartel and Mexico’s most wanted man — to wrest control of key smuggling corridors in northern Mexico from the Arellano Felix cartel.

He and his hitmen are known to use gruesome killing methods including torture and then dissolving the bodies of his enemies in corrosive acid.