Posted on 09/12/2010 9:07:21 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY Mexican marines captured Sergio Villarreal Barragan, a presumed leader of the embattled Beltran Leyva cartel and one of the country's most-wanted fugitives, in a raid Sunday in the central state of Puebla, the government said.
The alleged capo known as "El Grande" did not put up any resistance when he was arrested along with two accomplices as they left a residence in Puebla city, according to government security spokesman Alejandro Poire. The raid involved 30 Navy marines, five vehicles and a helicopter.
"This is a new and resounding blow by the federal government against crime, given the high rank and dangerousness of this person inside one of the country's most extensive criminal organizations which has now been deeply weakened," Poire said in a statement.
Villarreal's capture is the fourth major blow delivered to drug cartels by the government of President Felipe Calderon in the past year.
First came the death of Arturo Beltran Leyva, the top leader of Beltran Leyva cartel, in a raid outside Mexico City on Dec. 16, 2009. Then soldiers killed the Sinaloa cartel's No. 3 capo, Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, on July 29. And on Aug. 30 federal police announced the capture of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie." The two men are not related.
Villarreal, "El Grande," appears on an Attorney General's Office list of Mexico's most-wanted drug traffickers, with a reward of just over $2 million offered for his capture. He faces at least seven investigations for alleged drug trafficking and organized crime, Poire said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Good for them. Hope he doesn’t increase the payoff money to the federales and walk. Short trial and execution would be good.
“Villarreal’s capture is the fourth major blow delivered to drug cartels by the government of President Felipe Calderon in the past year.”
Let’s look at this....I see a very bad guy captured by a bad Mexican government. The bad guy hasn’t a problem with killing anyone that crosses his path, and the bad Mexican government has a law in which there is no death penalty, and a history of lighter than air sentences for these very bad guys.
I’m supposed to breathe a sigh of relief because the bad Mexican government caught a very bad guy?
No better time than now to cap de capo.
His jailers will be bribed or threatened with their lives and the lives of their families if they do not let him escape. He’ll be out within two months.
Looks as if Calderon is finally getting serious.
I will believe he is really serious when he asks for American guns and soldiers
It would be silly to think that Mexican intelligence is working alone to pick these guys up. I believe we do have some good guys left who care about this country.
We hear this kind of talk all the time, yet the drug trade continues unimpeded.
The cartels slaughter each others' members by the thousands every year. Why would anyone think that an arrest of a kingpin is going put a dent in it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.