MEXICO CITY – Mexico's government on Monday offered $2 million each for information leading to the arrest of 24 top drug lords in a public challenge
to the cartels' violent grip on the country.
The list indicated that drug gangs have splintered into six main cartels under pressure from the U.S. and Mexican governments. The two most powerful
gangs — the Pacific and Gulf cartels — each suffered fractures that have given rise to new cartels, according to the list published by the Attorney
General's Office.
The list offers 30 million pesos ($2 million) in rewards for 24 top members of the cartels and 15 million pesos ($1 million) for 13 of their
lieutenants.
Mexico's drug violence has killed more than 9,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 as gangs battle each other for
territory and fight off a government crackdown. Some of that violence is spilling over into the United States, especially the Southwest, where kidnaps
and killings are on the rise.
The rewards are the largest Mexico has ever offered for top drug lords, said Ricardo Najera, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office. Some of
the men, such as suspected Pacific cartel leaders Joaquin Guzman and Ismael Zambada, are targeted by separate $5 million reward offers from the U.S.
government.
The new list appeared to be the first offering rewards for all the most-wanted cartel members at once. The government could be trying to signal its
determination to take on the cartels at the same time, rather than one or two at a time as past administrations have done, said Andrew Selee, director
of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute.
"It tells you a little bit about Calderon's thinking," Selee said. "He really sees this as something he wants to eradicate. He's willing to take them
all on as a unit."
The document offered insight into the reorganization of the cartels more than two years into Calderon's military crackdown against them.
The Beltran Leyva and Carrillo Fuentes gangs — once considered affiliated with the Sinaloa group under the Pacific cartel alliance — were listed as
their own cartels. So was La Familia, which operates in central Mexico and was once considered a gang that answered to the Gulf cartel.
Calderon's government has attributed fractures in the cartels to the military crackdown, saying the arrest of drug kingpins has set off internal
battles for control that have led to Mexico's sharp surge in violence. It dismisses suggestions by some U.S. officials that Mexico is losing control
of some of its territory.
The list sends a message that Mexico is using all it resources to root out drug traffickers days before a visit from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and a month before President Barack Obama visits, said George Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.
Mexican officials "have been quite defensive about all the talk about Mexico's being a failed state and that the cartels are controlling more and more
territory," Grayson said. "I see this as an acceleration of Calderon's policy but with one eye on the upcoming visit of the American leaders."
However, monetary rewards have not proved crucial to the capture of Mexican drug lords in recent years. Calderon's government has not granted rewards
for any of the kingpins arrested on its watch, Najera said.
Stephen Meiners, a Latin America analyst for the U.S. intelligence service Stratfor, said many arrests are likely based on anonymous tips from cartel
leaders trying to get rid of rivals.
"So far that's been enough incentive to phone in these tips," Meiners said. "I kind of doubt that the people making these calls would want to come
forward to claim reward money."
Two of the people named were captured last week: Vicente Zambada, the son of Ismael Zambada, and Sigifredo Najera Talamantes, an alleged Gulf cartel
hit man suspected of organizing an attack on the U.S. consulate in Monterrey.
No reward money was granted for either capture, said Najera, the spokesman for the Attorney General's office. Zambada's arrest was the result of an
anonymous tip that only alerted authorities to the presence of armed men at a certain location, he said. Najera Talamantes's arrest was not based on
outside information.lizard lips - 3-23-2009 at 08:18 PM
They didn't mention that the aduana will take 1,999,999.01 in tax.DENNIS - 3-23-2009 at 10:40 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by lizard lips
They didn't mention that the aduana will take 1,999,999.01 in tax.
Hacienda? You're right, though.lizard lips - 3-23-2009 at 11:17 PM
Your right Dennis--------- it's just that I'm still peeed off at the Aduana I guess.postholedigger - 3-24-2009 at 01:55 PM
Didn't they try this approach with Bin Laden? Didn't work too well...in the end we're all still left looking at each other with one big
question..."where's Waldo?"bajadock - 3-24-2009 at 02:10 PM
