Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Sunday, September 5, 2010

Judge Orders Alleged Kingpin 'La Barbie' Held

By: Olga R. Rodriguez
Associated Press Writer

A judge has ordered a U.S.-born suspected drug lord known as "La Barbie" held for 40 days pending an investigation into organized-crime and other possible charges, authorities announced Saturday.
Edgar Valdez Villarreal, who got his nickname for his fair skin and green eyes, will be jailed at federal police headquarters in Mexico City during that period, the Attorney General's Office said in a statement.

The judge's decision also gives Mexican authorities time to decide whether to deport Valdez to the United States, where he faces cocaine charges in three different states.

Valdez's attorney, Kent Schaffer, said Saturday that he will file a written request with Mexican authorities next week that Valdez be deported for prosecution in the United States.

"We didn't expect they would deport him before today," Schaffer said. "This is a decision that will have to be made in the upper ranks of the Mexican government and that will take time."

Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez, believed to be one of Mexico's top drug bosses, is escorted by federal police during his transfer from Federal Prosecutor's office to the federal police center in Mexico City September 3, 2010. A Mexican judge ordered Valdez to be held for 40 more days of investigation, the federal prosecutor's office said on Saturday.

Valdez, who was born in Laredo, Texas, and has been living illegally in Mexico, was captured outside Mexico City on Monday by federal police, following a yearlong pursuit with the help of U.S. intelligence. Seven of his allies arrested that day were also ordered held for 40 days.

The Attorney General's Office said Valdez faces probable organized-crime and weapons-possession charges. The office said other charges could emerge from its investigation.

Mexican police have blamed Valdez for several dozen homicides in his fight for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel, a conflict that made a gruesome battleground out of relatively peaceful parts of central Mexico.
He is the third alleged drug lord brought down by the government of President Felipe Calderon since December: Valdez's boss, Arturo Beltran Leyva, and Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, the No. 3 in the powerful Sinaloa cartel, were both killed in shootouts with the Mexican military.

Authorities have expressed hope that more cartel leaders will be captured with Valdez's help. Federal police released a video of "La Barbie" discussing a meeting several years ago in which Mexico's top cartels reached a nonaggression pact. Valdez told police that Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was the first to break that pact two years ago when he tried to wrest control of smuggling routes through the northern state of Chihuahua from the Juarez cartel.

Authorities say Valdez also told interrogators he worked in drug trafficking and transported cash hidden in trailers.

Schaffer met with his client for the first time Thursday and said Valdez was reading from a script given to him by police in the earlier appearances.

17 comments:

  1. @Valentia...

    DO you remember when you posted the "timeline" and you & I were accused of writing a script? It was after Edgars arrest.

    Well since then I have seen your timeline on 2 other blog (comments)...made me smile.

    There ar two intesting articles on Border Reporter..One is "He Gave Up" the other "Quien Puso a la Muñeca?"

    here they are;

    http://borderreporter.com/2010/08/%c2%bfquien-puso-a-la-muneca/

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  2. Anybody making bet whether he arrives in US alive.

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  3. ok....still means nothing the complexity of this situation will never allow the truth to be revealed....guess chivis & valentina are current or ex cartel members and know the"real" story

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  4. @ Chivis:

    Pretty funny, but either way I don't mind if it was re-posted, at all. As a future defense attorney, those are the kind of details that are very important to me - not gossip and added folklore implanted on blogs like the BR. I argue the facts, nothing more and nothing less but the facts.

    Since I work for a lawyer who happens to be a defense attorney, I get paid to read numerous deposition transcripts in state criminal cases and discovery propounded by the U.S. Attorney's office in federal cases... I have to search for irregularities in testimony and analyze/criticize it.

    It's what I do, at least now, before law school. And I must say, I do it well and I use it to build up experience while I wrap up my Criminal Justice/English degree. I don't know what the hell I was thinking with the minor in English, but I hope it looks good on my law school application.

    Back to Barbie, I was going to expand on the entire footage of the testimony he gave that day, I posted the Youtube video on the BB's facebook page.

    When you look at the entire footage, not just excerpts, he does a lot of hesitating before answering questions about Sinaloa. He wrinkles his forehead a couple of times and hesitates long enough, which means he has to think before answering. He doesn't do this about other questions, regarding his 'business' in Colombia and his relationship with Arturo, in fact, he goes into details about the Beltran-Leyva cartel. His answers are less irregular and more fluid when it comes to Arturo and his link to the Beltran-Leyvas.

    It's obvious that he's fibbing about his relationship with Guzman, Zambada and pretty much everyone he mentions. The only viable relationship I believe, due to the certainty of his answers, is his link to El Indio, Arturo and Hector Beltran Leyva. Also, the story he gave about hiding el JJ, that seemed pretty believable, too. Everything else, you have to watch for hesitation and the irregularity of his responses.

    For the most part I think the interview was quite telling. He's thought about being captured and possibly being extradited to the U.S. and becoming a protected witness for the U.S. Attorney's office. I think that's the reason why he was dropping big names, to make himself appealing as a potential star witness.

    As for the articles, thanks for the links, but I don't read the anything on the BR and I wouldn't recommend it.

    As always, thank you for your comments, I truly hope that in time things will change drastically and there will be a renewed Mexico that the Mexican citizens can be proud of.

    Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

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  5. Anonymous (September 5, 2010 8:20 PM):

    Please read my response to Chivis, that should serve as a proper reply to your defensive remarks.

    Thank you for your unenlightened comments by the way, because that's all you can provide.

    For the record, the truth is written all over his TESTIMONY and there is absolutely NOTHING COMPLEX about his situation. He's trying to make himself appear important, so that he's extradited and protected in the U.S., because he won't last a day in a Mexican prison. NOT. ONE. DAY.

    He betrayed the Beltran-Leyvas and he's willing to lie and do anything to get out of Mexico.

    You can protest that there is no evidence of his opportunist nature, but if you're going to do that, I suggest you don't watch his testimony. Aside from entertainment, it's quite telling.

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  6. It seems to me he was truthful about Guzman, etc..I don't think there was alot of difficulty in the situation, seems he laid it out there pretty much like it is..He didn't have much to say about Zambada, etc because he didn't know them, only from a meeting, as he stated.

    He's definitely now smiling in his new photos while being transfered by fed police. I would imagine he was pretty sure he was going to be "deported" immediately. He only has 5 federal charges against him in the U.S...no torture, kidnapping, mutilating, executions, just trafficking. If Osiel only got 25 and not even in a super max. Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix served what 14-15 months? Consuelo Marquez after laundering millions of narco dollars for Mario Villanueva, was released as soon as the ex Gov. of Quintana Roo extradited to the U.S.. Really, how much time ould could they give Barbie?

    It's in Mexico where Barbie does NOT want to be..For the most part (with exception to El Chapo's "mysterious" escape) capos grow old in Mexican prisons: think about Caro Quintero and Felix Gallardo.

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  7. With over 15 years working in the criminal justice field at many positions and levels I would say this situation is not as clear as the earlier posts suggest... Several facts are missed in the earlier post.....where are the facts that la Barbie betrayed anyone and facts that he did not know any of these top people....of course he's gonna say what he thinks will get him a better deal for himself ....it will take more than a wannabe lawyer to figure this one out....

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  8. I disagree, the detail of his testimony says otherwise. He would have expanded on Guzman, Zambada and Esparragoza, but he didn't, he simply provided what was already established by the media in Mexico. Basically, nothing new, just the same information everyone reiterates. That in and of itself says volumes. He wants the American government to believe that he's a credible/potential government witness, because he knows fully well that he won't survive a day in prison, at least not in Mexico he won't.

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  9. "He's definitely now smiling in his new photos while being transfered by fed police"

    Sorry, I'm not the greatest typing..I meant to say he is definitely NOT smiling in his new photos.

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  10. So la Barbie is just an Mexican American trying to grab headlines from the "real Mexican drug lords" ? The previous post suggest he was never that important .... My question is how he got to such a high position in this cutthroat drug war.... You have to have real nerve and a ruthless personality to attain the position he had and may still have......if he was though enough to survive the drug war in Mexico he can possibly survive in prison in Mexico

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  11. To answer your question, he latched on to Arturo Beltran-Leyva. Which is the reason why he was fighting with Arturo's brother Hector for the Beltran-Leyva cartel's territory in Mexico.

    He's no big shot, he was, at best, Hector's rival and perhaps equal in that sense, but he's no Guzman. Essentially, he was only able to survive on his own, after branching out, for at most 8 months. So, he didn't attain and position or hold any viable position that long.

    I'm sure he was running out of money and didn't have enough in order to buy his way out of being arrested. Otherwise he would still be out there.

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  12. @8:20

    Why the hate? Makes you old before years..
    No cartel member, however I know more than a few or know close family members. Everyone does that lives in Mx. Their children attend my schools, or therapy centers, they have families and family life. On my staff I employ 2 Mx attorneys full time and my office I lease from a good friend who is a senator from the state I have my corporate offices in. Mexicans do not like to speak about realities to outsiders but consider me an insider because of the longevity and vast extent of my humanitarian work in Mx. I bring to the dicussion a different insight than most.

    You bring nothing, just criticism about a subject that for you is entertainment as you sit in your chair mouth corners downward spreading hate. You are humorous, a little nat buzzing around.

    @Ovemex;

    I caught the typo and by the context knew what you meant, but honestly I saw many photos of him in this transport with his new blue polo and though he looks tired he was gleeful in many especially when on board. He had to know going in that extradition would not be overnight. It will be soon.

    and about BDN vs sinful...something very wrong..the blog does not appear the same and BDN does not address the truth however Sinful says too much. Many posters are saying the sinful was irate and envious that BDN received all the international press attention in August.

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  13. This is funny, "he is blamed for the homicides... .", what about the ZETAS? ?how come not one has been "captured"??..oh, that's right, it's because they work with the Mexican & US government...they've got to eliminate the competition, and that is Edgar, & everyone else who's NOTa Zeta member...

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  14. I was wondering, what Hector Beltran Leyva was up to. Probably laughing at the arrest of his enemy, but he should be worried about this because La Barbie might spill the beans to the authorities. I think the good thing for now, is that both men no longer shoot each other in very publicly spots.

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  15. Why is it that most of you think small time La Barbie knew a lot of the top capos? He only knows information about his cell (which has been destroyed), and probably at one time knew information when he was with Arturo, but he now has nothing to give.

    He will try to pretend he is a main player to get a nice plea, but soon everyone wil know he does not know much and what he knows, he is making it up.

    I laugh when some people hang on to every little word he utters out of his mouth.

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  16. Well, you don't know him. Not anyone else. Who knows more about La Barbie is himself. Who knows what he is up to, but we know he is in jail.

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  17. this from cnnMexico http://mexico.cnn.com/

    BARBIE OFF THE HOOK?


    La PGR admite que las declaraciones de ‘La Barbie’ no tienen validez legal

    El procurador de México reconoce que sus dichos difundidos por tv carecen de valor legal pues su defensa no estaba cuando los emitió
    Viernes, 10 de septiembre de 2010 a las 18:21

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