Narco Leaders Captured At A Rate Of One Per Month

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The federal government's offensive against drug cartels has accelerated in the last seven months with the arrest of at least eight capos or first and second level operators of different criminal groups, a figure that represents almost half of the great leaders arrested so far this administration.

In addition, the apprehensions of criminals by the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) have shown a vertiginous advance during the first two months of 2022, reporting the arrest of 94 alleged aggressors, which represents 54 percent of the reported cases. in 2021.

The report on attacks against military personnel of said unit reveals that the monthly average of arrests so far in the so-called Fourth Transformation stands at 13.2 cases, while in January and February the figure rose to 47 cases.

So far this year, the federal government has distributed more bullets than hugs, since the number of criminals injured during confrontations has doubled this year, after registering a monthly average of 3.1 injured between 2019 and 2021, in the current year 6 cases have been recorded.

Just last March 1, during his morning press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured that he has not changed his position that the government should not respond to violence with more violence, but that the causes that generate it should be addressed due to the increased strength of criminal groups.

“I am convinced of that, what happens is that it takes time, this was already there. What we are looking for is that young people are not hooked, take away criminals already defined, take away young people, that they do not have a reserve army. That young people have the possibility of work, of study. They didn't do that before."

The group most affected by the arrests made since last September has been the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), adding five detained plaza operators, among them was the arrest in November 2021 of Rosalinda González Valencia, wife of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes , El Mencho, leader of said organization.

The federal government cataloged, at the time, this action as the most important that has taken place in recent years in the fight against drug trafficking, since González Valencia is cataloged as the financial head of the CJNG and was accused of Organized Crime and Operations with Resources of Illicit Origin (money laundering).

This drug cartel also suffered the arrests of Benjamín Moliendo, La Pantera, in September 2021, who was the main operator in Tabasco and Campeche; as well as José Antonio 'N', El Pizarro, leader in Veracruz, who was apprehended on November 28, 2021.

So far this year, federal and state forces have also arrested Carlos Pelayo, Don Carlos, who was the main operator in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and Aldrín Miguel Jarquín, El Chaparrito, who controlled the drug market in Colima and that he had a search card issued by the United States government.

This latest arrest caused different drug blockades to be registered at strategic points in Colima in the early hours of March 14, where at least six cargo trucks were set on fire by armed men belonging to the CJNG.

Among the last eight arrests of capos and operators, the arrest made on March 14 in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, of Juan Gerardo Treviño, El Huevo, leader of the Northeast Cartel, who operated in that entity but also in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon also stands out. 

The Mexican authorities pointed out that due to the high level of danger of El Huevo, they had to transfer him by helicopter to Mexico City and later send him to Tijuana, Baja California, from where he was deported to the United States in less than 24 hours, since he has a warrant of capture for money laundering and drug trafficking in that country.

The two arrests that close the list were made against members of the Sinaloa Cartel. The first of them was that of Armando Batiz Camarena, El Inge, who was the leader of a synthetic drug production cell in Culiacán, Sinaloa. The second was that of Antonio Leonel Camacho, El Biden or El 300, who operated the plaza in Chihuahua.

Mexico Código Rojo