Suspect Says ICE Agent Slain in Error

Here is more on the capture of the suspects in the federal agent's execution.

An alleged Zetas drug cartel member arrested in the killing of a U.S. immigration agent told soldiers Wednesday the attack was a mistake, saying gunmen mistook the officer's SUV for a vehicle used by a rival gang, the army said.
A soldier escorts Julian Zapata Espinoza, known as "Piolin", or Tweety Bird, a ring leader of a cell of Los Zetas operating out of southern Nuevo Leon, during a media presentation at Military Zone in Mexico City February 23, 2011. The Mexican army said on Wednesday it had arrested Julian Zapata Espinoza in the roadside killing of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Mexico last week that sparked outrage in the United States. A second ICE agent was wounded in the shooting on a major highway near the central city of San Luis Potosi, north of the capital, in one of the worst attacks on U.S. agents in Mexico in more than a decade and a sign of Mexico's worsening drug war.

The Mexican government said Wednesday it had detained a suspect in the killing of ICE Special Agent Jaime Jorge Zapata and that the suspect told authorities that Zapata’s SUV was attacked because it was mistaken for that of a rival drug organization.

Last week, some U.S. officials maintained the attack was an intentional ambush of the agents and said the gunmen made comments before they fired indicating they knew who their targets were.

Julian Zapata Espinoza, known as “El Piolin,” was detained along with five other suspected members of a local cell of the Zetas organization, a press release from the Mexico Attorney General’s office said.

The release said that Zapata Espinoza was caught Wednesday when the military raided four buildings in San Luis Potosí state used as safe houses by the suspects. It identified Zapata Espinoza as the chief of the Zetas cell in the area.

The Attorney General’s office, known as the PGR, said Zapata Espinoza told soldiers of his role with the Zetas and said that he was the head of a group of gunmen that attacked the vehicle in which Zapata and fellow agent Victor Avila were traveling on Feb. 15. Zapata was killed and Avila was wounded in the attack, which occurred on Highway 57 in the state of San Luis Potosí.

A soldier escorts Julian Zapata Espinoza (3rd L), known as "Piolin", a ring leader of a cell of LosZetas operating out of southern Nuevo Leon, during a media presentation at Military Zone in Mexico City February 23, 2011.

Also detained Wednesday and identified as suspected members of the Zetas were Armando Álvarez Saldaña, Mario Domínguez Realeo o Domingo Díaz Rosas, Jesús Iván Quezada Peña, Martin Bárcenas Tapia and Rubén Darío Venegas, who was said to be from Honduras.

The PGR release also listed three women and one minor as detained but gave no information about them other than their names. The women were identified as Diana Margarita Guerrero Morales, Roxana Mireya Ríos Velázquez and Magali Chaín Castillo López, said to be the wife of Zapata Espinoza.

The news release said Zapata Espinoza told authorities that the vehicle in which the two U.S. agents were riding was similar to one used by a rival drug gang and it was attacked for that reason. Zapata Espinoza also named Jesus Ivan “El Loco” Quezada Pena and Ruben Dario “El Catracho” Venegas as others who participated in the attack, the PGR said.

It would not be the first time that a politically sensitive killing in Mexico was identified as a case of mistaken identity.

In 1993, gunmen linked to the Arellano Felix drug cartel killed Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo at an airport in the western city of Guadalajara. Prosecutors later said the gunmen mistook the cardinal's luxury car for their intended target, drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo Guzman."

Several other recent high-profile cartel killings of people not involved in the drug trade, including the September killing of American tourist David Hartley, have been ascribed by law enforcement officials to cases of mistaken identity.

Soldiers escort Julian Zapata Espinosa, aka 'El Piolin', fourth right, alleged member of the Los Zetas drug carteland main suspect in the killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs, ICE, agent Jaime Zapata, and Jesus Ivan Quezada Pena, left, Mario Dominguez Realeo or Domingo Diaz Rosas, third left, and Honduras' citizen Ruben Dario Venegas during a presentation for the media in Mexico City, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. Zapata and fellow agent Victor Avila, were attacked Feb. 15 when traveling along a highway in Mexico's San Luis Potosi state. Avila survived the attack.

The release said the Mexican military had had a line on this Zetas group because of information gathered in December following a separate arrest of suspected Zetas.

Wednesday’s raid also resulted in the seizure of six weapons, five vehicles, 41 magazines for ammunition, communications equipment, and various documents, including payroll information and membership lists of the organization.

ICE Director John Morton responded to the news of the arrest with his own statement, saying: “The announcement today by Mexican authorities of an arrest in the shooting of ICE Special Agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila is a welcome development. We are encouraged by this action and appreciate the efforts by Mexico to bring Special Agent Zapata’s killers to justice.”

He added: “It is important to remember that this is an ongoing investigation, and we will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners in Mexico and in the United States as it unfolds. We continue to hold the Zapata family in our thoughts and prayers, and look forward to a swift resolution of this case.”

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also issued a statement: "I welcome the news that Mexican authorities have apprehended one of the alleged killers of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata. We will continue to assist the ongoing Mexican investigation with every resource at our disposal and to ensure that all those responsible for Special Agent Zapata’s murder face justice.

“We will also continue our vigorous and coordinated efforts to defeat the criminal organizations operating in Mexico that seek to exploit our shared border. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Agent Zapata’s family, his friends, and his colleagues."

San Luis Potosi is at the center of a power struggle between two rival drug gangs, the Zetas and the Gulf cartel. It is also on the route north used by migrants seeking to reach the United States, and officials say cartels have begun recruiting some migrants to work for the gangs.

Though Mexico is seeing record rates of violence, it is rare for U.S. officials to be attacked. The U.S. government, however, has become increasingly concerned about the safety of its employees in the country.

In March, a U.S. employee of the American consulate in Ciudad Juarez, her husband and a Mexican tied to the consulate were killed when drug gang members fired on their cars after they left a children's party in the city across from El Paso, Texas.

The White House meanwhile announced Wednesday that US President Barack Obama would meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon next week, amid continuing drug violence and tensions over their joint strategy to tackle it. President Barack Obama also released a statement thanking the Mexican president for the arrests.

Records generated by the Mexican government obtained by The Brownsville Herald show that the area where the attack occurred has been the location of numerous incidents related to drug trafficking and criminal organizations, and also of their encounters with Mexican authorities.

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Jaime Zapata killed with a gun from operation fast and furious

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from an El Debate article

Subject Matter: Jaime Zapata, Los Zetas
Recommendation: Read this article by BB Founder Buggs

Today a Judge in the United States found guilty two members of Los Zetas for the death of the frontier agent.

El Piolin confessed that the assassination of Agent Jamie Zapata was a mistake

This Thursday a Federal Judge found guilty two members of a narco trafficking cartel from Mexico involved in the assassination of an agent in the service of Immigration and Customs in the United States in February of 2011.

A communication from the Prosecutor reported that Jose Emanuel Garcia Sota, 36 years of age, and Jesus Ivan Quezada Pina, 29 years of age, both members of Los Zetas cartel, were declared guilty at a Federal trial in Washington for murder and intent to murder a Federal agent and weapons charges.

They were sentenced for the shootout that occurred on the 15th of February of 2011 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where they killed agent Jaime Zapata and wounded another agent.

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Law Protecting US Officers Abroad Could Change After Recent ICE Agent Murder Re-Sentencing

"MX" for Borderland Beat

U.S. agent Jaime Zapata, killed in 2011

In January 2020, two members of Los Zetas who participated in the 2011 murder of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jaime Zapata in San Luis Potosi had their sentences vacated and sent to a lower court for limited re-sentencing because the murder occurred outside of the U.S.

Earlier this week, U.S. Senator John Cornyn filed the "Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Law Enforcement Protection Act" in hopes of clarifying a federal law that protects federal officers and employees serving overseas.

"Federal law enforcement officers make incredible sacrifices to protect Americans both on and off American soil, and they deserve our support no matter where they're stationed," said Cornyn in a statement. "This bill in honor of the brave Special Agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila will make it clear once and for all that we have our federal agents' backs."

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U.S., Mexico team up for murder trial

By Gary Martin/San Antonio Express News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/article/U-S-Mexico-team-up-for-murder-trial-2691871.php#photo-2167083

Soldiers escorted Julian Zapata Espinoza (third from left) during a presentation of detainees for the media in Mexico City eight days after Jaime Zapata was killed last February.Photo: Associated Press, Miguel Tovar / AP


WASHINGTON — A federal judge signaled Wednesday that he would allow Mexico and U.S. prosecutors to team up in the trial of a Mexican drug cartel member accused of killing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Jaime Zapata.

It was the first time that Julian Zapata Espinoza, known as “El Piolín” or “Tweety Bird,” has appeared in U.S. court since he was arraigned in December.

U.S. Chief Judge Royce Lamberth warned that even though he would waive provisions for a speedy trial because of its complex nature, prosecutors from both governments would need to move expeditiously regardless of sovereignty issues.

“We can send them right back to their sovereignty if they do not want to cooperate with us,” Lamberth said.

Justice Department lawyer Michael DiLorenzo asked the judge to designate the case complex and give more time to the prosecution to receive ballistics reports, crime scene reports and documents from agencies in Mexico where the crime occurred.

Lamberth said he would likely rule in favor of the request over the objections by court-appointed defense lawyer Ron Earnest.Zapata Espinoza, sporting a goatee and close-cropped hair, was in the courtroom wearing an orange District of Columbia jail jumpsuit.

He remained motionless during the proceedings.

“He's a little surprised. He's disoriented. He's not familiar with the American system of justice,” Earnest said.

Lamberth set another hearing date of April 25. A trial in the case is not expected until later this year.

A federal grand jury in Washington returned a sealed indictment last April charging Zapata Espinoza with the murder of Zapata and the attempted murder of ICE special agent Victor Avila.

Zapata Espinoza also is charged with murder and attempted murder of internationally protected persons and using a firearm during the crimes.

The indictments were opened when Zapata Espinoza was extradited from Mexico in December to face the charges in U.S. district court.

He is being held without bail.

Agent Zapata, 32, of Brownsville was gunned down Feb. 15.

Zapata and Avila were consultants working with the Mexican government and traveling between Mexico City and Monterrey, near San Luis Potosí, when they were ambushed by a group of armed men.

Mexican and U.S. officials said the ambush was carried out by Los Zetas, one of the major criminal drug cartels operating in Mexico.

Ballistics and crime scene reports, as well as analysis, is part of the information Justice Department lawyers want to see before the next hearing.

“We continue to work with our partners south of the border to obtain additional documents,” DiLorenzo told the judge.

Zapata Espinoza has confessed to the shooting death of agent Zapata to Mexican authorities.

The National Defense Secretariat of Mexico said five other Los Zetas cartel members also were arrested in connection with the ambush.

Earnest said that even with indictments, he expects Zapata Espinoza to be tried alone on the charges he faces.

The death of Zapata and the attempted killing of Avila became an international incident that was discussed between President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón during a state visit last year.

Calderón and Mexican officials worked with the Justice Department, FBI, ICE, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other U.S. agencies on the investigation.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, officials estimate that as many as 47,000 people have been killed in the drug wars since Calderón ordered a crackdown nearly six years ago.

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Repercussions Predicted In ICE Agent's Slaying

St. Mary's Visiting Asst. Professor: 'Very, Very Fine Officer'

By: Jessie Degollado
KSAT 12 News Reporter

Soon after Anne Olhrich, a foreign service officer specializing in Latin America and national security, came to teach at St. Mary's University, she said she encountered ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata at various professional gatherings and seminars.

Olhrich said she and Zapata shared a similar field of expertise: human smuggling and trafficking.

"(He was) a very, very fine officer," she said.

Olhrich said the violent death of any U.S. personnel in a foreign country is proof that "it's not just soldiers. It's law enforcement. It's diplomats."

She said Tuesday's attack that killed Zapata and wounded his partner will result in shock waves.

The repercussions will be felt on numerous levels, she said, "not just diplomatically, with law enforcement, on planning of missions, on sharing of information."

Olhrich, who was assigned to Juarez, Mexico, with the U.S. State Department, said funding levels should be maintained to establish more vetted law enforcement throughout the country, who can be trusted.

Also, Olrich said she is troubled by the reaction of many in the U.S. to the unprecedented attack by Los Zetas on U.S. federal agents.

When she asked some of her students if they had heard about it, Olhrich said they told her, "Yeah, but they were in Mexico. Why were they down there?"

Olhrich said, "We need to educate people why we're down there."

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Suspects change story, Claim ICE agents provoked attack

photo:CISCA/Grupo Refroma

The Brownsville Herald
A leading Mexican newspaper is reporting that suspects in the fatal attack on ICE Special Agent Jaime J. Zapata have changed their story and now claim that Zapata and his partner provoked the encounter.

The new account drew strong reaction from U.S. officials.

“I’ll take the word of our federal agents over a terrorist any day,” U.S. Rep. Michael T. McCaul, of Austin, said.

Zapata and fellow agent Victor Avila were attacked Feb. 15 when traveling on official business in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. Zapata died at the scene, and Avila was injured.

Julian “El Piolín” Zapata Espinoza, one of those detained as a suspect in the case, now says that the U.S. agents fired first, Reforma said, citing case files in the investigation.

In February, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office said that Zapata Espinoza claimed that confusion led to the attack because his Zetas group believed that the agents’ SUV belonged to a rival drug cartel.

McCaul rejected the new account.

“The fact is Agents Zapata and Avila were ambushed,” he said. “They clearly identified themselves as U.S. diplomats and the cartel responded with over 80 rounds from AK-47s.”

Phil Jordan, a former supervisor with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and former director of the El Paso Intelligence Center, said, “There is no way that the agents would have provoked the attack.”

“Anybody that believes this is either smoking something other than cigarettes or chewing peyote,” Jordan said.

Reforma reported Thursday the new account that Zapata and Avila provoked the attack after they accidentally hit a pickup in a convoy of three vehicles carrying a squad of hit men armed with AK-47s.

According to Reforma, the hit man, or “sicarios,” say they stopped and got out of their vehicles after the accidental collision. When the ICE agents saw the men were armed, the agents fired at the hitmen who then fired back, riddling the SUV the ICE agents were riding in with 20 bullets, according to the account.

Officials in Mexico and the United States have said the two agents were not armed.

According to Reforma, the investigation has revealed that besides Zapata Espinoza, suspects include Ruben Dario Vanegas, alias “El Catracho,” from Honduras, and Armando Francisco Gonzalez, alias “El Ojitos,” who reportedly was carrying a U.S. police credential or identification card.

According to Reforma, the case file says that two bullets hit the front windshield of the SUV, nine bullets struck the back part of the SUV and seven hit Zapata. Information is that the Zetas handed Zapata Espinoza and members of his cell over to the government, because Zeta bosses concluded that Zapata’s death had unnecessarily brought heat to the area under their control.

A member of the Zetas reportedly told authorities that the bosses ordered that Zapata Espinoza be reunited with his cell and that they would either be killed or handed over to the authorities.

Reforma reported that Sergio Mora, alias “El Toto,” a boss in San Luis Potosí who allegedly coordinated the hit men, testified that the attack had nothing to do with Zapata Espinoza wanting the SUV or because he thought the agents were members of a rival cartel.

Mora reportedly said that Zapata Espinoza claimed that the SUV had followed him and had struck his pickup and that the U.S. agents had fired at them when they got out of their pickup.

According to the Reforma report, Jose Sarabia Castro (or Luis Jesus Sarabia; the name has been given both ways), known as “El Comandante Pepito,” was above Mora, and Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar “El Mamito” was above Sarabia. Until February, Rejon Aguilar reportedly had been the Zetas boss in the state of San Luis Potosí, Reforma said.

U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, reacted swiftly to the new allegations: “Special Agents Victor Avila Jr. and Jaime Zapata were brutally attacked while working as a part of ICE’s attaché office in Mexico City. Zapata died in the line of duty as a result of the unprovoked attack.

“It is obscene for the assailants to claim that their assault on American law enforcement officers was in self-defense. I will work to aggressively pursue this case on behalf of the Avila and Zapata families,” Farenthold said.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, said of the new account: “You’ve got to look at the source.”

“I will stick with the Department of Homeland Security investigators that have very carefully looked at the circumstance of the murder of the ICE agent, and I stand by the work that they’re doing and the work they have done,” Cuellar said.

Cuellar said the United States would continue working with Mexico to bring the guilty parties to justice. The U.S. has already begun the paperwork for the extradition of Zapata Espinoza.

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Trial Watch: El Piolin Pleads Guilty to Murder of Jaime Zapata and more cartel trial information

Borderland Beat

A commander of the Zetas drug cartel pleaded guilty Thursday, May 23, 2013 to the murder of ICE Special Agent Jaime J. Zapata and the attempted murder of fellow agent Victor Avila.

Julian Zapata Espinoza, 32, also known as “El Piolin” entered the plea in a Washington, D.C., federal court before Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth less than two weeks before he was to stand trial on the charges of murder and attempted murder in the shooting of the federal agents.

Zapata, 32, a Brownsville native who worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was killed Feb. 15, 2011, near San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in an attack by members of the Zetas drug cartel.

Avila was wounded in the attack.

Authorities said Zapata struggled with his assailants as they tried to drag him out of his vehicle. Zapata was shot at least three times with the bullets flying through the car window that accidentally had been cracked open. Authorities said 83 spent casings from AK-47 bullets were found at the scene.

Agent Zapata’s family attended Thursday’s court proceedings along with attorney Trey Martinez of Brownsville, who said the Zapata family was “pleased” with the court proceedings that had occurred, but added this is just the beginning. The family has a $75 million lawsuit pending against the federal government and others.

“The Zapata and Avila families are pleased with this guilty plea and the steps taken to bring those responsible for this crime to justice. They are grateful to all those who have stood by them and have been instrumental in this process,” Martinez said in statement.

In his April 2013 statement to federal authorities, Espinoza Zapata admitted that he and other “estacas” or “hit squads” armed with AK-47s, AR-15s and handguns, surrounded the armored vehicle in which Jaime Zapata and Avila were riding in San Luis Potosi. El Piolin stated he fired several shots in the air trying to get the agents to exit the vehicle. When they refused to do so, the “estacas” fired weapons at the vehicle, Espinoza Zapata said.

Zapata Espinoza said he and the others did not know that Agent Zapata and Avila were U.S. citizens and federal agents until after the ambush. He was arrested Feb. 23, 2011, at his residence in Mexico.

The purpose of “stopping the armored vehicle was to steal it,” Espinoza Zapata said.

In an initial statement to Mexican authorities, Zapata Espinoza said that agent Zapata’s death was a case of mistaken identity. He and others believed the Suburban in which Zapata and Avila were riding belonged to a rival drug cartel.

In his April statement to U.S. authorities, Zapata Espinoza said Zeta members had a “standing order from the Zetas leadership to steal vehicles deemed valuable to the cartel.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., Thursday stated that three others also entered guilty pleas in connection with the killing and wounding of the agents. Ruben Dario Venegas Rivera, 25, also known as “Catracho,” and Jose Ismael Nava Villagran, 30, also known as “Cacho,” pleaded guilty on Aug. 1, 2011, and Jan. 4, 2012, respectively, to one count each to federal charges concerning the murder and attempted murder of agents Zapata and Avila.

In addition, Francisco Carbajal Flores, 38, also known as “Dalmata,” entered a guilty plea to a charge of “conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity and to being an accessory after the fact to the murder and attempted murder of the agents.”

The defendants’ guilty pleas had been sealed until Thursday’s court proceedings.

Authorities said as part of the guilty pleas Zapata Espinoza, Venegas Rivera and Nava Villagran admitted to being members of the Zetas hit squad and participating directly in the ambush on the agents. 

Carbajal Flores admitted to assisting Zeta members in the attack.

All four men face a possible maximum sentence of life in prison. No sentencing date has been scheduled.

The case was investigated by the FBI, ICE, the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Adminstration, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Diplomatic Security Service and the U.S. Marshals Service.

More cartel related trial news: Vincente Zambada's Trial Posponed Again, 

Eduardo Arellano Félix pleads guilty in U.S Court ....Gets 15 

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Zetas Member Involved in 2011 Murder of US Agent Zapata Arrested in Nuevo León

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

Suspect's mugshot; eyes blurred by Mexican officials

A Zetas hitman involved in the 2011 murder of U.S. federal agent Jaime Zapata was captured yesterday. His name is Ángel Christian (last names not provided) and he is 30 years old. Authorities stated that the suspect kept a low-profile and worked in a local factory.

Ángel Christian was first arrested in March 2011 with fourteen other Zetas members, including a financial operator known as Mario Jiménez Pérez ("El Mayito"). All of them were implicated in the attack against Zapata and his colleague Víctor Ávila, who survived the armed attack. Investigators said that all suspects were part of a San Luis Potosí-based cell of Los Zetas.

He was imprisoned in Veracruz but was conditionally released shortly thereafter. Ángel Christian was asked to make an appearance in court and sign in front of a judge, but he never showed up. A judge issued an arrest warrant for his capture. Upon his re-arrest, he was imprisoned in a penitentiary in San Luis Potosí.

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Update on ICE Attache Agents' Attack

Several versions of the deadly attack that occurred last Tuesday Feb. 15th, involving two ICE attaché agents have been made public. This is the latest version surrounding the case of U.S. agents attacked on the Panamerican Highway 57 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

The two agents, were ICE attachés assigned to the Embassy in Mexico City, they had just met with other U.S. personnel half way to Monterrey.

They were headed back to Mexico City in a black U.S. government armored SUV with diplomatic plates.

Officials say that Zapata and his partner stopped briefly at a fast food place and were driving on highway 57 or the Panamerican Highway between the towns of Ojocaliente y El Toro, in San Luis Potosí when they stopped at what they thought was a military check point.

It is not known if the cartel's men who were manning the checkpoint knew that they clearly had a US diplomatic vehicle and panicked or they had prior intelligence and had planned the interception.

An informed source said, Zapata who was driving apparently stopped at the check point and lowered his window to show them their U.S. diplomatic papers.

He also began to advise them that they were US federal agents.

The gunmen refused to relent and kept trying to get the agents to come out of their vehicle.

Agent Zapata continued to try to negotiate with the aggressors at one point yelling, "We are Americans, we are diplomats."

The lowered window allowed the gunmen to fire their AK-47 assault rifle and a pistol through the opening.

"They began to shoot indiscriminately,” the official said, striking Zapata several times in the abdomen and Avila twice in the leg.

The attackers gravely wounded agent Zapata, Agent Victor Avila Jr. who was accompanying Zapata on this trip was wounded, but survived the attack.

As soon as they were able to ,the agents closed their windows and tried to drive away but Agent Zavala was seriously wounded.

His partner Agent Avila was not able to physically remove mortally wounded agent Zavala from the drivers seat in order to be able to speed off, so he began calling for assistance.

The armored vehicle withstood the attack and the barrage of rounds.  

A Federal Police helicopter arrived shortly after the attack as did several units federal agencies from nearby San Luis Potosi, said U.S. government officials.

Brownsville Herald:

In an apparent blame game, members of the Gulf Cartel and Carteles Unidos issued a detailed statement where they accuse a number of key Zeta members of the shooting of two U.S agents that resulted in the death of ICE agent Jaime Zapata.

According to the communiqué, which was released to The Brownsville Herald the Gulf Cartel and its allies were separating themselves from a number of crimes stating that the “Mexican federal government is aware that several cowardly acts have been carried out by the criminal group the Zetas who try to confuse public opinion through messages denying any involvement.”

Carteles Unidos is made up of a number of enemies of the Zetas including the Sinaloa Cartel, La Familia Michoacana, Milenio and others

The communiqué states that the attack against the ICE agents in San Luis Potosí was carried out by a group of Zetas under orders of Zeta lieutenant Jesus Enrique “El Mamito” Rejón Aguilar, who targeted Americans.

According a spokesman for Grupo Savant, a Washington-based intelligence company, the information listed in the message is mostly true in some of the cases and plausible in others.

In the case of the ICE agents, the true responsible party is a toss-up because both cartels have a presence in San Luis Potosi, the spokesman said. Based on the company’s research, the perpetrators were more than likely Zetas.

However it is beginning to look like a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time type of scenario.

Agent Zavala's body back in Texas:

On Tuesday agent Jaime Zavala from Hanna, Texas will be buried at Rose Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery, in Brownsville, Texas.

His brother wrote the following statement and released their loved one's funeral arragements which will be open to the public in the Brownsville Herald:

In response to this terrible tragedy, the Zapata Family has many people to thank who have provided critical support to us. Our extended family, loved ones, and friends have helped us cope with our grief.

I also want to thank our community, the City of Brownsville, the State of Texas, as well as the Department of Homeland Security.

We have also been overwhelmed by the support of law enforcement officers and agents, and the people of the United States of America during our great loss.

My brother, ICE Special Agent Jaime Jorge Zapata, was undeniably the best! His dedication to service and integrity was unparalleled. He was the life and soul of our family, and a joy to his friends and colleagues.

I hope that you will remember him in your prayers – as well as the other men and women who have served this great country, and paid the ultimate price so that we may live in freedom in a safer United States of America.

Jaime was a son, a brother, a boyfriend, and a caring, loving person. He grew up giving of himself and was always committed to doing the right thing. I firmly believe he is in heaven now, continuing to work for what is right.

Please also keep his fellow agent, Victor Avila Jr., who was traveling with him, and the Avila family in your prayers, as they continue coping with this tragedy.

God bless my Father, Mother, Jaimes’ girlfriend Stacy, my brothers - Carlos, Jose, William, and all of you here today.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

- Amador Zapata

Rosary Service and Funeral Mass for ICE Special Agent Jaime Jorge Zapata

A Rosary Service and Funeral Mass will be held on Monday, February 21 and Tuesday, February 22, in Brownsville, Texas. Both events will be open to the public.

Monday, February 21:

Viewing: Visitors may come and express their condolences from Monday afternoon through Monday evening at the Brownsville Events Center located at 1 Events Center Boulevard, Brownsville, Texas.

7:00 p.m. – Rosary Service

Brownsville Events Center
1 Events Center Boulevard
Brownsville, Texas

NOTE: Cameras are not permitted in the Brownsville Events Center on Monday.

Tuesday, February 22:

8:30 a.m. – Funeral Mass

Brownsville Events Center
1 Events Center Boulevard
Brownsville, Texas

10:30 a.m. – Procession to Cemetery

Rose Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery
4464 Old Port Isabel Road
Brownsville, Texas

12:00 p.m. – Burial Service

Rose Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery
4464 Old Port Isabel Road
Brownsville, Texas

 Sources: Brownsville Herald
                  Noticias de Santa Maria del Rio

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Zeta Arraigned for Killing of U.S. Agent in Mexico

A reputed member of Mexico’s Los Zetas drug cartel was arraigned in federal court on Wednesday for the killing of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Mexican soil.

Julian Zapata Espinoza, “El Piolín” entered a not guilty plea.

U.S. District Chief Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the defendant held without bail and scheduled the next hearing for Jan. 24, prosecution spokesman Bob Miller told EFE.

Zapata Espinoza was arrested eight days after the Feb. 15 ambush that left ICE agent Jaime Zapata dead and his colleague Victor Avila wounded. Mexican prosecutors agreed to defer charges against the alleged shooter so he could be quickly extradited to the United States.

Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila were attacked by Zetas gunmen while driving from Mexico City to the northern city of Monterrey.

The two agents, who were assigned to the ICE attache office in Mexico City, were driving an armored vehicle when they were attacked in the state of San Luis Potosi.

The six suspects – including Zapata Espinoza – detained by Mexican troops in connection with the ambush told authorities the attack was a case of mistaken identity.

Zapata and Avila were traveling in a Chevrolet Suburban, a popular model among Mexican gangsters, and the suspects said they thought the ICE agents were members of a rival criminal outfit.

The 32-year-old Zapata, a resident of Brownsville, Texas, was on a temporary assignment in Mexico.

“This prosecution exemplifies our unwavering effort to prosecute those who committed this heinous offense against U.S. law enforcement agents,” the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald Machen Jr., said Wednesday.

“We will not rest until those responsible for the murder of Agent Zapata and the wounding of Agent Avila are brought to justice,” Machen said.

About 30 ICE agents are currently working in Mexico, according to the agency, along with others from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI, with agents assigned to Mexico City and other cities, such as Monterrey, Hermosillo, Guadalajara, Ciudad Juarez and Durango.
 
Source: EFE

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US raids net nearly 700 linked to Mexican cartels

AFP

Authorities have arrested close to 700 people in an ongoing US-led international crackdown on Mexican drug cartels, US officials told AFP on Friday.

Operation Fallen Hero-Bombardier was launched Thursday, just over a week after the shooting death of a US immigration officer in Mexico, with raids in the United States, Colombia, Brazil and Central America.

President Barack Obama meets March 3 in Washington with Mexican President Felipe Calderon amid rising concerns about security along the US-Mexico border and drug violence that shows no sign of abating.

There were 676 arrests as of 2200 GMT Friday, US Marshals Service spokesman Alfredo Perez said by telephone from the city of Houston, in the state of Texas bordering Mexico.

Authorities have seized $12 million in cash, 467 kilograms of cocaine, 21 pounds of heroin, almost 40,000 pounds of marijuana, 282 weapons, and 94 vehicles, Perez said.

Jaime Zapata, 32, and a second agent for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), came under fire on February 15 while driving in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi in a region plagued by drug violence. Zapata died from his wounds.

"This coordinated effort shows that ICE special agent Jaime Zapata will not be forgotten," said Robert Rutt, special agent in charge of ICE-Homeland Security investigations in Houston.

The Mexican army said Wednesday it captured a suspect, Julian Zapata Espinosa, who was identified as the leader of a group of hitmen for one of the bloodiest criminal gangs in Mexico, the Zetas gang.

Zapata Espinosa allegedly confessed to the attack but said that the US agents' armored car had been confused with one belonging to a rival gang, Mexican media reported.
"While the murder is personal to ICE, we are arresting transnational gang members and drug traffickers who have links to Mexican cartels because of their criminal activity and not simply out of retaliation," Rutt said.
In addition to raids in several US states, other operations have been carried out in Central America, Brazil and Colombia, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The killing of US agent Zapata was the first in Mexico since Enrique "Kiki" Camarena was kidnapped, tortured and killed while working undercover for the US Drug Enforcement Administration 26 years ago.

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83 Bullet Casings Recovered After Attack on ICE Agents

The Monitor
Jared Taylor

The two federal agents were headed south along the four-lane highway, back to their post in Mexico City.

Special Agent Jaime Zapata was behind the wheel of an armored Chevrolet Suburban with U.S. diplomatic plates. His partner, Special Agent Victor Avila Jr. was in the passenger seat.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had met with fellow agents, who were based in Monterrey, along Mexico Highway 57 in the central state of San Luis Potosi to drop off equipment from the U.S. Embassy.

Zapata and Avila stopped at a Subway along the highway for lunch. As they left the restaurant, an SUV closed in on their Suburban from behind, tailing the agents.

Zapata tried to speed up, but the SUV kept pace and pulled up side-by-side. The passengers flashed assault rifles at the agents and sped ahead down the highway, out of sight.

A second vehicle came from behind, tailing the agents until they met the first SUV they’d seen minutes before.

The two vehicles had boxed in the agents on the highway and crawled to a stop. Gunmen surrounded the agents’ Suburban.

“They were screaming ‘Get out! Get out! Get out!,” one U.S. law enforcement official, briefed but unauthorized to speak on the case, told The Monitor.

That official and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who chairs the U.S. House Homeland Security and Investigations Oversight Subcommittee, told The Monitor of what investigators have surmised from the attack on the agents Tuesday afternoon.

The agents showed their U.S. diplomatic papers to the gunmen, showing they were federal agents. But the gunmen refused to relent.

Zapata shifted the vehicle in park, which automatically unlocked its doors. The gunmen tried to pull the agents from the vehicle. But they managed to close the doors.

Zapata’s window was open a crack, allowing the gunmen to stick an AK-47 assault rifle and a pistol through the opening. They “shot indiscriminately,” the official said, striking Zapata several times in the abdomen and Avila twice in the leg.

Mexican investigators recovered 83 bullet casings along the highway after the attack on the agents, McCaul said.

“That shows what a massive assault of these agents this was,” he said.

Still alert, Zapata put the Suburban in gear, managed to maneuver around the gunmen and hit the gas pedal. Minutes later, he slumped behind the wheel and the SUV slowed until it veered off the road into an embankment.

The gunmen followed and fired several shots at the passenger side of the armored vehicle. The bulletproof glass stood up to the rounds from the assault rifle.

Avila ducked in the passenger seat as Zapata was moments away from death. Apparently frustrated, the gunmen fled and Mexican police officers responded to the scene.

As investigators have believed since the hours after Zapata’s slaying, members of the Zetas drug cartel are likely behind the attack.

But whether any law enforcement — U.S. or Mexican — actually can track down those responsible seems unlikely, the official said.

“They will never catch these guys,” the official said of Zapata’s killers. “Their (Zeta) bosses are going to catch them and kill them, leave their heads on the side of the road with a note saying, 'Sorry, we killed these guys.' And that will be it.”

Tuesday’s attack prompted the U.S. State Department to urge Americans from unnecessary travel to San Luis Potosi state. The warning issued Thursday evening urged caution to U.S. citizens living in north central Mexico to maintain extra caution while the Mexican government investigates the attack.

‘A WAR GOING ON DOWN THERE’
McCaul contends the fatal attack has changed the rules for U.S. officials operating in Mexico, he said.

“They’re changing the rules of the game in terms of going after our guys down there,” McCaul said in a telephone interview Thursday.

McCaul is one of several U.S. lawmakers who has taken a critical tenor in the days after Zapata’s slaying.

Zapata’s murder was the first slaying of a U.S. law enforcement agent since 1985, when Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kike” Camarena was kidnapped, tortured and murdered.

The ensuing investigation from U.S. authorities pushed Mexican drug smugglers to not target American authorities operating south of the Rio Grande.

Whether the attack on the agents actually was a targeted hit remains unclear, McCaul said.

“For 25 years, there’s been a sort of operational understanding that this doesn’t happen,” he said. “They’ll go after Mexican police and other cartel members, but not U.S. law enforcement.”

But one Mexican lawmaker pointed to the U.S. demand for drugs as a contributing factor in the murder of Zapata and the approximately 35,000 others slain in drug violence since 2006.

Mexican representative Gustavo Gonzalez Hernandez, who heads the national security committee in the country’s house of representatives, said U.S. aid in fighting the drug war should focus on reducing consumption and not by fighting the war on Mexican soil.

“If the U.S. explains to its people that it is a joint problem, that it’s not the Mexicans who invented drugs and brought them to their country,” he said. “A demand evolved and a structure began that includes production and transportation.”

McCaul said the United States should consider a policy similar to Plan Colombia, which sent billions in aid directed toward eradicating that country’s drug trafficking organizations. First conceived in 1999, the program aimed to enhance social programs and train local police and soldiers.

“There’s a war going on down there and now American citizens and U.S. law enforcement are the victims of that war,” he said. “They’re not getting better, they’re getting worse and I’m very concerned about Mexico becoming some kind of failed state.”

But the Mexican people would not support a similar policy as the United States did with Colombia, said Gonzalez, who represents Jalisco state.

“That would not (work),” Gonzalez said. “It would be an invasion of Mexican sovereignty and independent of the feeling of anger that Americans may have, (any action) cannot be outside the context of Mexican law and only what is allowed under the constitution.”

FUNERAL PENDING
Funeral arrangements for Zapata remained pending Thursday evening.

The 32-year-old Brownsville native’s remains were at the Dover Air Force Base for an autopsy, said a government source unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter. His remains were diverted to the Delaware base after a medical examiner in Houston refused to perform the exam, saying state law prohibits autopsies on remains recovered outside the United States, the Houston Chronicle reported. When Zapata’s remains would be flown to Brownsville was unclear.

Zapata’s family remained secluded in their Brownsville home on Thursday.

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One of Many Tragedies

With talk of Mexico and the narco violence which has lead some political figures like Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, and U.S. Army Under Secretary, Joseph W. Westphal, declaring an “insurgency" and "potentially, a takeover of a government" I found the words of Admiral Winnefeld interesting because he is responsible for defending America's homeland and would have a better insight on what is happening in Mexico.

Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr is a United States Navy four-star admiral who serves as the fourth and current Commander, U.S Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the 21^st Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

Friends of NORAD and USNORTHCOM,
Tragically, earlier this week Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency Special Agent Jaime Zapata, was shot and killed by gunmen in an attack in Mexico Feb. 15. Our sincerest sympathies go out to Agent Zapata’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time.

He and Agent Brian Terry of the Border Patrol, who lost his life near Rio Rico, Arizona, selflessly gave their lives for our security, and we must always remember their sacrifice. They were among many exceptionally dedicated and capable U.S. law enforcement officers committed to this struggle.

Agent Zapata’s is one of many tragedies unfolding in the ongoing struggle we share with Mexico against the transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) responsible for such deeply corrosive impacts in North America.

These impacts not only include trafficking in drugs, people and weapons back and forth across our borders, they also include murder, kidnapping, robbery and extortion committed by the TCOs against the Mexican people.

We must remember that while we lost an ICE agent this week, our Mexican partners have lost nearly 2,000 security forces agents and more than 30,000 civilians in the last four years. Many of these security forces’ family members live in the same towns where TCO violence is highest, and are often themselves targets, only heightening the respect in which we hold our counterparts.

(Friends, family, local and federal law enforcement gathered to receive Jaime Zapata body at Brownsville International Airport)

This struggle is about the future of Mexico and the safety and security of North America, and the Mexican government has shown exceptional moral, political and physical courage in confronting the TCOs.

The Mexican Army, Navy and Federal Police are gradually achieving success in unraveling these organized crime networks. In 2010 alone, they took down 15 significant players from among the seven cartels, disrupting the TCOs and their operations.

Mexico’s security organizations are undergoing many of the same transformations our forces have over the last decade, including building increased irregular operations capability, new forms of interagency cooperation, and concern for human rights—and are doing so in a very difficult operational environment.

I applaud their efforts. We must continue to assist them--and we are. Building upon the momentum established by our civilian leadership, our two militaries have forged a cooperative relationship, and we will continue to work together to counter the TCOs within clearly defined legal constraints and the guidance we receive from our respective political leadership—and always, always with complete respect for Mexican sovereignty.

We at USNORTHCOM are proud to support all of our U.S. and Mexican partners in our common effort to disrupt, degrade, and defeat the TCOs. Make no mistake, together we will confront and eventually defeat the criminal organizations that threaten our way of life. Agents Zapata and Terry understood that. It’s important that we do as well.
All the best,

Admiral Sandy Winnefeld

Sources: http://www.northcom.mil/NNCBlog/default,month,2011-02.aspx

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ATF: Gun in US agent's death traced to Texas man

TERRY WALLACE, Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) — Three people suspected of smuggling guns to Mexico were arrested in a Dallas suburb on Monday after federal investigators traced the gun used in the killing of a U.S. agent in Mexico to one of them, officials said.

Agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested the suspected gun smugglers in morning raids in the southern Dallas suburb of Lancaster, Texas, ATF spokesman Tom Crowley said. Crowley referred questions on other details to the U.S. Justice Department in Washington. A department spokeswoman said no statement was planned for Monday.

The ATF said the gun was used in a Feb. 15 shooting of two federal agents who were driving on a highway near the northern city of San Luis Potosi on Feb. 15. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was killed and agent Victor Avila was wounded.

Dangers higher for federal agents
By Jason Buch
jbuch@express-news.net

As they cruised the streets of Matamoros, Mexico, with an informant in November 1999, a pair of U.S. federal agents were forced off the road and surrounded by cartel gunmen.

In what has become a legendary showdown between U.S. agents and narcos, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Joe Dubois and FBI agent Daniel Fuentes talked their way out of the jackpot, convincing the gunmen — including Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas Guillén — that harming them would bring down the wrath of the United States.

That incident stands in stark contrast to the Feb. 15 attack on two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Presumed cartel gunmen forced Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila off the road in Mexico's San Luis Potosí state. Like Dubois and Fuentes, the two ICE agents reportedly tried to negotiate with the gunmen. But as soon as they cracked the window to parley, one of the gunmen shoved the barrel of his weapon into the car; Zapata was killed, and Avila was wounded.

Alleged members of the Zetas drug gang who have been accused of the killing said that although the agents were traveling in a vehicle with diplomatic license plates, they thought the men were rival cartel members. It was the first time in more than 20 years that a U.S. agent was killed in the line of duty in Mexico.

Those who follow U.S. law enforcement activity in Mexico and on the border say the danger to federal agents has increased since Dubois and Fuentes stood down the gunmen in Matamoros. Criminal organizations have grown beyond their leaders' control, and conflicts between cartels have become more frequent and more violent, raising the stakes for traffickers and making it more dangerous for federal agents.

Zapata's death comes on the heels of a Border Patrol agent's killing in Arizona, a suspected Guatemalan drug trafficker with ties to a Mexican cartel accused of offering money to kill U.S. agents in his country and the home invasion of an ICE agent in San Antonio.

“It is more dangerous now than it was 10 years ago,” said Alonzo Peña, a former deputy director of ICE. “(Mexican) President (Felipe) Calderón courageously tried to take on the cartels to break their impunity. Because of that action, unfortunately, a consequence has been that the cartels are fighting back. They're threatened by the government, and they're also threatened by rival cartels, and that has somewhat changed the landscape in terms of the violence.”

In the case of the San Antonio ICE agent, masked gunmen broke into his house near Shavano Park on Jan. 13. One of the men held his wife at gunpoint and groped her while the other ransacked the house, according to a police report.

Police say they're investigating the incident as a robbery. But Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council, said evidence — the gunmen had their gloves taped to their jackets, they asked for the agent by name and they showed up at a time he was normally home — makes him believe that it wasn't a random robbery attempt.

“We definitely think this guy was targeted based on his job,” Crane said.

“I think that that's the direction this whole thing is headed in,” he added. “I think things are escalating. I think (the gangs) are getting a little bit more gutsy.”

In response to the attack on Avila and Zapata, U.S. law enforcement officials made raids across the country last week, seizing drugs and guns and making arrests.

The heads of criminal organizations on both sides of the border understand that attacking federal agents brings unwanted attention and intense law enforcement scrutiny and hurts their bottom line, said Ray Leal, a criminal justice and criminology professor at St. Mary's University.

But the organizations have grown so large that the bosses have trouble controlling their underlings, Leal said.

“It's like controlling a good-sized military force that's spread out over a large area of territory,” he said. “Who knows who's in charge?”

The fear of drawing U.S. attention isn't always a deterrent for high-level traffickers. Edgar Leonel Estrada Morales, who is accused of being a major pseudoephedrine supplier for Mexico's La Familia cartel, was arrested last month in Guatemala.

An indictment out of a federal court in Virginia accuses Estrada of trying to have two DEA agents and a U.S. Embassy employee in Guatemala killed. He offered $10,000 apiece for the killings, the indictment says.

But most of the recent incidents of violence against U.S. agents appear to involve low-level traffickers who are too quick to pull the trigger. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a December shootout with bandits in Arizona, and a Houston police officer was wounded Thursday as he helped federal agents serve warrants during retribution raids for Zapata's killing.

“We're looking at an increase (in violence),” Peña said. “When they feel like they're cornered or they're threatened, they're going to react.”

Sources:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/ATF-Gun-in-US-agent-s-death-traced-to-Texas-man-1035095.php


http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Dangers-higher-for-federal-agents-1033781.php

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