Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Solar Energy News .




PILLAGING PIRATES
Mexico captures Gulf Cartel leader: navy
by Staff Writers
Mexico City (AFP) Sept 4, 2012


Mario Cardenas Guillen.

Mexican marines have caught Mario Cardenas Guillen, an alleged leader of the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's most notorious drug trafficking organizations, and he was paraded on television Tuesday.

Known as "El Gordo" ("The Fat One"), Cardenas Guillen was holding a "large weapon" at a building entrance when he was captured Monday in Altamira, a city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, the navy said.

He was "one of the main leaders" of the Gulf Cartel, said navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara.

The marines confiscated the weapon plus three ammunition clips holding 30 bullets each, two grenades, 129,700 pesos ($9,850) in cash and four small plastic bags containing a white powder resembling cocaine, Vergara said.

The arrest deals a new blow to the Gulf Cartel, which has been weakened since it broke ties in 2010 with its hit men, the Zetas, who subsequently became a rival drug trafficking group.

After his release from prison in 2007, Cardenas Guillen and his brother Antonio Cardenas Guillen, or "Tony Tormenta," took control of the Gulf Cartel, Vergara told reporters.

But the criminal gang split into two factions after "Tony Tormenta" was killed in a shootout with Mexican troops in 2010, the spokesman said.

One side remained loyal to the Cardenas family while the other side pledged allegiance to Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, known as "El Coss."

Another brother, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, headed the cartel until his own capture in 2003. He was extradited in 2007 to the United States, where he is serving a 25-year prison sentence.

Mario Cardenas Guillen, who was hauled before television cameras and flanked by two masked marines, was arrested back in 1995 on charges linked to organized crime and drug trafficking.

He allegedly smuggled "large quantities of cocaine and marijuana" while he was locked up in Matamoros, a city bordering Texas. He was transferred to a prison in the western state of Jalisco in 2003 and released four years later.

Javier Oliva, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the latest capture "is one of the most important arrests in recent years."

But he added: "It is a partial success because the production and consumption of drugs is not coming down."

Since President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against the cartels in December 2006, authorities have detained or killed 22 of Mexico's 37 most wanted drug traffickers.

But the last six years have also been marked by an upsurge of drug-related violence that, according to analysts, has left around 60,000 people dead.

The split between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas sparked a brutal turf war that spread from Tamaulipas to the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon.

While the Gulf Cartel has lost power, the Zetas have grown stronger and extended their reach to 17 of Mexico's 32 federal entities, according to the Texas-based security analysis firm Stratfor.

The Zetas are battling the Sinaloa cartel for control of drug trafficking routes to the United States. The Sinaloa gang is headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" ("Shorty") Guzman, Mexico's most wanted man.

.


Related Links
21st Century Pirates






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








PILLAGING PIRATES
EU-NATO forces free hijacked vessel
Brussels (UPI) Aug 16, 2012
EU and NATO naval forces freed a ship commandeered by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden this week, even as the number of such attacks has dropped sharply. Counter-piracy forces from the EU Naval Force Somalia's Operation Atalanta and NATO said they acted on a tip from port authorities in the Somali territory of Puntland and, after a pursuit, freed the crew of a pirated sailing vessel i ... read more


PILLAGING PIRATES
Waste cooking oil makes bioplastics cheaper

Japan toilet maker showcases 'poop-powered' motorbike

Biorefinery makes use of every bit of a soybean

Warning issued for modified algae

PILLAGING PIRATES
Soft robots, in color

NASA Historic Test Stands Make Way for New Reusable Robotic Lander Neig

Dextrous robotic hand gets thumbs up

The first robot that mimics the water striders' jumping abilities

PILLAGING PIRATES
Japan starts up first offshore wind farm

Maximum Protection against Dust; Minimal Effort

US Wind Power Market Riding a Wave That Is Likely to Crest in 2012

Wind farms: A danger to ultra-light aircraft?

PILLAGING PIRATES
US auto sales jump 20 percent in August

New Saab cars to be rolled out in 2014

China's Dongfeng sees profits slide in first half

Ford says it will bring luxury car brand to China

PILLAGING PIRATES
Oil market steady amid weak Chinese data

Using magnetism to understand superconductivity

Nigerian community urges action on oil devastation

Fire points to Venezuela oil industry woes

PILLAGING PIRATES
Japanese majority favor zero nuclear power

IAEA head says don't relax on nuclear safety

Greens see red after French minister hints at nuclear U-turn

Hundreds join anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo

PILLAGING PIRATES
Russian Arctic resources

Zimbabwe utility halts disconnections

India's Reliance Power and China Datang ink deal

Romney touts energy independence by 2020

PILLAGING PIRATES
Liberia forests sold off in secret logging contracts: report

Natural Regeneration Building Urban Forests, Altering Species Composition

Myanmar in deforestation crisis

Widespread local extinctions in tropical forest 'remnants'




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement