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U.S. Guns Behind Cartel Killings in Mexico

"The billion-dollar U.S. drug market is too lucrative to lose."

The Combatants - From KPBS - San Diego

Arellano Felix Cartel



Tijuana’s Arellano Felix Cartel refuses to die.

The brothers who founded the organization and ran it for years are all either in jail in the U.S. or Mexico, or dead.

Federal law enforcement authorities on both sides of the border have read the cartel its last rites at numerous press conferences since 2002.

But, as authorities knock off one head, the organization sprouts another.

Today, that’s Fernando Sanchez Arellano. He’s the son of one of the Arellano Felix sisters.

The group refuses to relinquish its death grip on Tijuana and the border region, and to do so, has joined hands with trafficking groups that were once its bitter enemies.

Tijuanapress.com and KPBS have learned through a confidential report by Baja California authorities that the Arellano Felix cartel has teamed up with the Zetas, a group of former military men that became enforcers for Tamaulipas’ Gulf Cartel; the Carillo Fuentes, heirs of the Ciudad Juárez drug organization; and the Beltran Leyva brothers, a faction of Sinaloa’s drug mafia that broke with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman earlier this year because they felt betrayed.

The Arellano Felix’s new alliance is an attempt to fend off a turncoat lieutenant, “El Teo” who recently teamed up with Sinaloa’s Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to take over Tijuana.

The Arellano Felix cartel was born in the mid 1980s. That’s when the then-godfather of drug trafficking in Mexico, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, was arrested. He divided up his drug smuggling territory: the major border crossing between Mexico and the U.S., and the state of Sinaloa along Mexico’s Pacific coast. An Arellano Felix uncle, Jesus Labra Áviles got Tijuana.

Labra Áviles became the group’s financial brain and left operational control to his nephews: Benjamin, Ramon, Eduardo, Francisco Rafael and Francisco Javier Arellano Felix.

The brothers ingratiated themselves with Tijuana’s upper crust. For many, they were the cool kids in town. The brothers were also cold killers and murdered anyone who stood in their way.

By the mid-'90s, they were smuggling tons of cocaine across the border to the U.S. Billions of dollars from sales flowed back south.

These days, the cartel is reeling from blows by its enemies and law enforcement. But, as we have seen since the end of September, it continues to fight for its life, regardless the death toll.

The billion-dollar U.S. drug market is too lucrative to lose.

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Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán



Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera is the Mexican government’s top enemy.

He seems to be everywhere there’s a fight for drug smuggling territory in Mexico, including Tijuana. Yet, he disappears, almost miraculously, every time Mexican authorities have come close to capturing or have captured him. In 2001, he escaped from a maximum security Mexican prison hidden in a laundry cart.

Chapo Guzman was born in Sinaloa, the state known as Mexico’s cradle of drug trafficking. He’s 52 years old. His nickname is “Shorty,” because he’s just 5’6”. Nevertheless, “El Chapo” casts a long shadow on Mexico’s drug world.

Guzman Loera began smuggling drugs in the 1980s under Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, as did all of Mexico’s major drug traffickers. When Felix Gallardo was arrested in 1989, he divvied up his territory: the major border crossing between Mexico and the U.S., and the state of Sinaloa along Mexico’s Pacific coast. Guzman inherited Tecate. An Arellano Felix uncle got Tijuana. Mayo Zambada took Sinaloa.

At first the groups cooperated. Then, the fighting began. Guzman has been battling to control all of Mexico on and off since. He’s bought off police and public officials all over Mexico. He’s knocked off those who won’t cooperate.

Chapo Guzman is wanted in San Diego on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime. He’s smuggled tons of cocaine in a tunnel underneath the border to a warehouse in Otay Mesa. Authorities in Tecate stopped tons more of his cocaine from crossing the border packed inside cans of chili peppers, allegedly destined for grocery store shelves throughout the United States.

Chapo Guzman is locked in gruesome fights with drug trafficking groups around Mexico, including in Tijuana. The city’s Arellano Felix Drug Cartel has long been his nemesis. Over the years, he’s dispatched assassins to Tijuana to take them out.

KPBS and Tijuanapress.com have learned through a confidential report by Baja California authorities that a disaffected Arellano Felix cartel hit man, Teodoro “El Teo” Simental has linked up with Chapo Guzman in attempt to extinguish the Arellano Felix Cartel once and for all.

Also according to the report, to repel the attack, the Arellano Felix Cartel has teamed up with: the Zetas, a group of former military men that became enforcers for Tamaulipas’ Gulf Cartel; the Carillo Fuentes, heirs of the Ciudad Juárez drug organization; and the Beltran Leyva brothers, a faction of Sinaloa’s drug mafia that broke with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman earlier this year because they felt betrayed. It was recently discovered that the Beltran Leyva brothers paid off top ranking officials in the federal agency responsible for fighting organized crime in Mexico.

[Edited on 12-13-2008 by k-rico]

PUBLIC SAFETY WARNING

"PUBLIC SAFETY WARNING

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has developed highly credible information that counterfeit Mexican law enforcement credentials are currently being used by members of criminal organizations to facilitate illegal drug trafficking and commit murders, kidnappings, and violent assaults along the southwest border between the United States and Mexico. The following individuals are believed to be in possession of these counterfeit Mexican law enforcement credentials and they should be treated as armed and extremely dangerous."

FALSE MEXICAN LAW ENFORCEMENT DOCUMENTS







The following website has photographs of wanted Mexican criminals. The LA Times is reporting that number 27 is Teodoro Garcia Simental, the person responsible for much of the violence in TJ.



http://www.narctip.com/

LA Times

I wonder where they got the photographs, most are so nicely dressed. ?????


[Edited on 12-19-2008 by k-rico]