Nephew of Zeta Cartel Leader Arrested in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – A nephew of violent Los Zetas drug cartel chief Heriberto Lazcano and a police chief who was getting $16,000 a month to provide protection for the criminal organization were arrested in Mexico, the Attorney General’s Office said.

Roberto Rivero Arana, who says he is Lazcano’s nephew, was arrested by Federal Police officers in the southern state of Tabasco after an investigation that lasted several months.

The suspect was in charge of operations in Tabasco, Veracruz, Campeche, Chiapas and Quintana Roo states, located in southern and southeastern Mexico, for Los Zetas, a band of Mexican special forces deserters turned hired guns.

After several years as the armed wing of the Gulf cartel, Los Zetas went into the drug business on their own and now control several lucrative territories.

Daniel Arturo Perez Rosas, police chief of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, was arrested with Rivero Arana for “providing protection (to the drug trafficker) in exchange for the payment of 200,000 pesos ($16,000) a month,” the AG’s office said.

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18 Gunmen Killed in Confrontations on the Borderland Beat

18 gunmen killed in attacks on Mexican army bases.

Dozens of gunmen tried to blockade two army garrisons in northern Mexico, touching off firefights that killed 18 attackers, the army said Wednesday in announcing what appeared to be a rare drug cartel offensive. Only one soldier was wounded.

While drug gunmen frequently shoot at soldiers on patrol, they seldom target army bases, and even more rarely attack in the force displayed during confrontations Tuesday in the border states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.

Gunmen staged seven separate attacks on the army, including three blockades, Gen. Edgar Luis Villegas said. He said the attacks were "desperate reactions by criminal gangs to the progress being made by federal authorities" against Mexico's drug cartels.

Villegas said gunmen parked trucks and SUVs outside a military base in the border city of Reynosa trying to block troops from leaving, sparking a gunbattle with soldiers. At the same time, gunmen blocked several streets leading to a garrison in the nearby border city of Matamoros.

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Sheriff Richard Wiles says Slaying Suspect's Claim False

El Paso Times

El Paso -- El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles on Wednesday took odds with an explanation by Mexican authorities that the Aztecas gang killed one of his detention officers in Juárez for allegedly mistreating gang members while they were in jail.

Other U.S. law enforcement experts also questioned the explanation, the first time Mexican officials offered a motive for the March 13 slayings of three people with ties to the U.S. Consulate.

The experts also said they feared that the case may become mired in politics between the U.S. and Mexico.

A former El Paso Barrio Azteca member, Ricardo "Chino" Valles de la Rosa, 45, is accused in Mexico of acting as a lookout for other gang members who carried out the attack on detention officer Arthur Redelfs because he allegedly mistreated gang members.

Wiles disputed that theory.

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Severed Heads Found in Western Mexico

Apatzingan, Michoacan – Four severed heads were found Wednesday at the feet of an emblematic statue of former Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas in the western city of Apatzingan, sources in the Michoacan state Attorney General’s Office told Efe.

Left along with the heads was a disposable cooler stained with blood and scrawled messages from organized crime groups.

One of the messages was signed “La Resistencia,” the name of a gang thought to be linked to La Familia, a criminal organization that dominates the illegal drug trade in Michoacan.

The heads had bandages across the eyes and belonged to men in their mid-to-late-20s.

A search of the area around the statue failed to turn up the rest of the victims’ bodies.

The gruesome discovery in Apaztingan followed news of the deaths of 31 people in drug-related violence in northern and central Mexico.

The most serious incident occurred in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, where at least 18 people died Tuesday in clashes between army troops and gunmen, as well as in shootouts involving rival gangs.

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At least 15 killed in Tamaulipas

At least 15 killed in Tamaulipas street battles amid blockades
Three civilians injured in crossfire

The Monitor

Reynosa, Tamaulipas — At least 15 people died during armed clashes with the Mexican military Tuesday in northern Tamaulipas, state officials reported.

The fatalities came as several blockades sprang up across Reynosa streets, clogging traffic and leading city officials to advise people to avoid the streets for several hours Tuesday morning.

Officials did not say whether they suspect the blockades Tuesday were drug cartel-related. Similar obstructions were reported earlier this month in Monterrey, where suspected drug cartel members have occasionally blocked primary highways that lead to the city in an effort to stop security patrols.

Slain Tuesday were seven armed civilians involved in a clash with Mexican military soldiers near the Pemex installation along the highway to Monterrey, state authorities said. Three other people involved in a gun battle between civilians and the Mexican military in Rio Bravo, according to Tamaulipas state authorities.

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5 Killed at Mechanic's Shop in Juárez

El Paso Times

Five men were shot and killed in a mechanic's shop Tuesday afternoon in a neighborhood near the Juárez airport, Chihuahua state prosecutor's spokesman said.

The shooting took place shortly before 3 at the shop near the intersection of Tamaulipas and Morelia streets.

State authorities identified the victims as José Adrian Soto, 33, Raul de la Cruz Rodríguez, 39, Jesús Eduardo Soto, 25, Victor Jaciel Soto, 21, and Jesús Abraham Pérez Pérez, 26.

Investigators counted 29 bullet casings at the scene. An investigation continues.

There had been at least one other homicide that day.

On Tuesday morning, Marcelo Meraz Vázquez, 21, was shot to death on a bed in his home in the town of El Porvenir in the Valley of Juárez, said Julio Castañeda, a spokesman for the state prosecutor's office.

Meraz was shot multiple times by gunmen armed with AK-47s. "They came in for him," Castañeda said.

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Barrio Azteca: Slain Was Retaliation

Suspect: Sheriff's officer was killed in retaliation for alleged mistreatment

El Paso Times

A former Barrio Azteca gang member from El Paso suspected of being involved in the killing of three people tied to the U.S. Consulate in Juárez claimed the target of the attack was a detention officer who mistreated gang members at the El Paso County Jail.

Mexican authorities on Tuesday accused Ricardo "Chino" Valles de la Rosa, 45, of being a lookout for gunmen who carried out the hit.

Valles was arrested Friday by the Mexican army in Juárez and remains in custody in Mexico.

Valles alleged during his detention hearing that a gang leader ordered the hit on Arthur Redelfs, an El Paso County sheriff's detention officer, because Redelfs mistreated fellow gang members at the jail. Valles had another hearing Tuesday before a judge, also in Juárez.

The Barrio Azteca is a brother gang of the Juárez Aztecas gang, and both are aligned with the Carrillo-Fuentes cartel.

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