Mexico news Sept.13-2

Posted by The Generals on September 16, 2012, 1:09 pm
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Subject: Mexico News DAILY September 13, 2012 Main Briefing Golfo head arrested Development: On 12 September the Mexican navy announced that it had captured ‘El Coss’ (Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez), believed to be the head of the Cartel del Golfo (CDG) drug trafficking organisation (DTO). Significance: Costilla Sánchez’s capture is the latest in a series of successful arrests targeting various Mexican DTOs, suggesting that the fight against organised crime in Mexico is becoming more effective. One reason for this appears to be the availability of better intelligence and cooperation with the US and other countries across the region. All this is positive for outgoing President Felipe Calderón, whose war against organised crime, launched when he took office in 2006, has earned him considerable criticism for resulting in an increase in violence. Calderón insists that despite the violence, the fight against organised crime has been justified, as the influence of these groups had become too widespread. He has urged President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto to continue his policy. Peña Nieto in turn says he will largely maintain Calderón’s strategy, but that he will tweak it to reduce the high levels of violence. Key points: • According to the Mexican navy’s statement, a man “presumed to be” Sánchez Costilla was arrested in an operation in Tampico, Tamaulipas, in which not a single shot was fired. Sánchez Costilla is believed to be the leader of one of the factions of the Golfo gang; he took over from ‘Tony Tormenta’ (Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén) after he was killed by the security forces in 2010. Sánchez Costilla’s arrest is another important blow for the Golfo DTO, coming nine days after the authorities arrested ‘El Gordo’ (Mario Cárdenas Guillén), believed to be the acting head of the Guillén family and leader of a second Golfo faction. The statement said that Sánchez Costilla, for whom Mexico offered a US$2.3m reward and is wanted in the US for drug trafficking, will be formally presented in a press conference today (13 September). • This is the sixth high-profile arrest made by the Mexican authorities during the past week. ‘El Señor’ (Adelmo Niebla González), identified as the right-hand man of the head of the Sinaloa DTO, ‘El Chapo’ (Joaquín Guzmán Loera) was arrested by federal police (PF) agents in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on 8 September. Niebla González is accused of smuggling drugs to the US and weapons to Mexico. The following day the authorities arrested the brothers Ramón, Rafael and Jesús Alvarez Ayala, believed to be the leaders of the Jalisco Nuevo Generación (JNG) DTO near Guadalajara, Jalisco. JNG is a splinter group of the Sinaloa DTO that operates in western Mexico, which has seen a recent upsurge in violence. • ‘El Molca’ (Ramiro Pozos González) was arrested on 12 September in Metepec, Estado de México. Pozos González is the presumed founder of “La Resistencia”, a nascent criminal organisation that challenges the JNG. All the aforementioned arrests were made in operations in which there was no loss of life. • There has also been success against Mexican criminals outside of Mexico. Also on 12 September, Guatemalan authorities announced the arrest of Ramón Antonio Yánez Ochoa in Chuarrancho, in Guatemala department. Yánez Ochoa faces drug trafficking charges in the US, from where he managed to flee before facing trial in 2009. Guatemala’s interior minister, Mauricio López Bonilla, said that Yánez Ochoa was arrested in possession of precursor chemicals for the production of synthetic drugs for what he described as the largest clandestine drug lab ever discovered in Central America. • Security cooperation with Latin American partners has increased under Calderón and Peña Nieto has signalled he intends to continue along this path. He announced plans to visit Guatemala on 17 September (his first foreign trip as President-elect) where he hopes to meet all the Central American leaders to discuss immigration, economic and security cooperation. President Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala yesterday said that the presidents of Honduras (Porfirio Lobo), Panama (Ricardo Martinelli) and Costa Rica (Laura Chinchilla) had confirmed their presence at the meeting, which he said would focus on shared security concerns. • While Calderón’s fight against criminal groups is producing some results, critics of this strategy continue to question its efficacy given the failure to address the causes of criminality. Prominent Mexican peace activist, Javier Sicilia, is one of them. On 12 September he concluded a month-long convoy across the US by staging a demonstration in front of the White House, in which he demanded that both the Mexican and US governments end the “absurd” war on drugs. Sicilia’s ‘Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad’ advocates for the legalisation of drugs as an alternative and calls for resources used in the Plan Mérida security initiative to be reallocated to ensuring tighter controls on the sale of firearms. Pointer: Peña Nieto has announced that he will also visit Colombia, where yesterday the senate approved an extradition treaty with Mexico signed last year. This is part of the new Inter-American security cooperation effort - of which Mexico has been put in charge - launched at the last Summit of the Americas meeting in April this year.

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