La captura del Zeta Cuarenta es de la DEA: NYT

El diario The New York Times asegura que autoridades de EU - DEA, principalmente-, desempeñaron un papel clave para la captura del líder del cártel de "Los Zetas", Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, alias "El Z-40".

"Autoridades estadounidenses jugaron un 'rol clave tras bambalinas' en su aprehensión y, después de su arresto, confirmando su identidad a través de pruebas biométricas y de ADN, según oficiales en ambos lados de la frontera, que no están autorizados para hablar públicamente sobre el tema", dice el rotativo neoyorquino.

Un elemento policiaco estadounidense menciona a la publicación que los gobiernos de EU  y México comenzaron a compartir información sobre este líder zeta desde hace algunos meses; y que uno de los datos proporcionados por los estadounidenses fue que se había dado el nacimiento de un hijo de Treviño Morales hace menos de un mes.

"Los americanos también compartieron información de que estaba haciendo viajes para visitar al bebé en el área de Nuevo Laredo, cerca del lugar donde fue capturado", agrega el texto.

Además, indica que las autoridades intercambiaron inteligencia recogida de intervenciones telefónicas y de pistas aportadas por informantes, todo lo que, en conjunto, le permitió a la Secretaría de la Marina Armada de México localizar la camioneta en un camino cercano a la frontera, donde en la madrugada del lunes se realizó la detención de Treviño Morales.

Empero, el gobierno de México no ha reconocido ningún papel desempeñado por autoridades estadounidenses en esta detención. Incluso, cuando se hizo el anuncio oficial sobre la detención de "El Z-40", un periodista le preguntó a Eduardo Sánchez Hernández sobre el papel que jugó el gobierno de Estados Unidos en la detención, pero el subsecretario de Normatividad y Medios de la Secretaría de Gobernación dijo no contar con información al respecto.

Art Fontes, un exagente del FBI que pasó años siguiéndole la pista a este líder de "Los Zetas", dice al diario neoyorquino que si se logró capturar al capo sin protección y sin disparar ni un solo tiro, es porque traía dos millones de dólares en el vehículo. “Pensó que podía comprar su escape”, dice.

 El rotativo de Nueva York estima que, con esta detención, México puede estar en un momento decisivo de su “larga y sangrienta guerra contra las drogas”, y que puede cerrar un capítulo de brutalidad.

 El abatimiento de Heriberto Lazcano –el anterior líder zeta– en octubre pasado, la detención de "El Z-40" así como la de otros líderes, han sacudido a este grupo criminal, señala.

 "Puede ser el comienzo del final de este grupo como un gran cártel y, posiblemente, de la violencia a gran escala que lleva a cabo con tal bravuconería", estima la publicación.

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La nota 

Capture of Mexican Crime Boss Appears to End a Brutal Chapter

Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD and GINGER THOMPSON

NYT, Published: July 16, 2013

MEXICO CITY — Body parts strewn on highways, etched with the letter Z. Videotaped torture sessions uploaded onto YouTube. Victims placed in barrels and dissolved into a “stew” of violent death.

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Since the Zetas emerged less than a decade ago as the brutal new figures in the storied history of organized crime here, Mexico has experienced some of its most shocking episodes of violence, and the bloodshed has seeped into other countries throughout the region.

Founded by heavily armed former soldiers trained for war, the Zetas did not pioneer sensational acts of violence in Mexico, but they perfected the practice of carnage as message, as they expanded beyond drug trafficking into extortion, migrant smuggling, kidnapping and other crimes.

With the arrest on Monday of Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, the Zeta crime boss so greatly feared that many would not dare utter his name in public, Mexico’s long and bloody drug war may have reached a crossroads. Nobody believes that drug trafficking will let up now that the Zetas have been weakened. And an array of ruthless gunmen in and out of the Zetas have no qualms about continuing to kill.

But Mr. Treviño’s arrest, the killing of the previous Zeta commander in October and the recent capture of several other lieutenants have rocked the trafficking organizations that did the most to damage Mexico’s image and instill the most fear among the people.

Mr. Treviño, who was better known as Z-40, after his radio call sign given by the militaristic group, was captured before dawn on Monday, with $2 million in his pickup truck, after spending time with his newborn child in a rural area near the Texas border. American authorities played a key behind-the-scenes role in his apprehension and, after his arrest, confirmed his identity through biometric and DNA tests, according to officials on both sides of the border, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the case.

The relatively quiet denouement of Mr. Treviño’s career belies the mayhem that made his organization stand out. In some ways, analysts said, the Zetas became a victim of perverse success.

The organization grew so fast, drew in so much money and hired so many gunmen quick to pull the trigger that it lost the loyalty that other Mexican crime syndicates engendered toward their leaders, while older, more established cartels sought to take down the Young Turks making business tough for everybody.

“They broke the rules of the game,” said George W. Grayson, a professor at the College of William and Mary and author of “The Executioner’s Men,” a history of the Zetas. “They wanted to brand themselves, and the brand they chose was the meanest, leanest, most sadistic organization in the Americas. Just mentioning Zetas sparks fear in the hearts of those who hear them.”

Where family and community ties bind larger cartels, the Zetas, increasingly run by young recruits trained in remote camps to kill in spectacular fashion, depended on a culture of military discipline and a hierarchy that began to fracture under the pressure exerted by Mexican and American law enforcement.

The danger remains that the splintering of the Zetas will leave smaller, dangerous gangs copying their name and tactics as they continue to extort, kidnap and deal drugs. State and local police forces are generally too corrupted, ill prepared or not committed to take them on.

But several analysts said the arrest of Mr. Treviño, led by Mexican marines but supported with intelligence from the United States — where he is wanted on drug and gun charges — could be the beginning of the end of the group as a large cartel and, possibly, the large-scale violence it carried out with such bravado.

“As a cohesive group there is probably not much left of them,” said Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican intelligence officer and now security consultant at a Mexico City research group. “But there will continue to be people who call themselves Zetas, act like Zetas and belong to gangs that use their letter.”

International pressure will be a key factor, as arresting a capo is one thing, but taking apart an organization with offshoots in several countries is another, said Alberto Islas, a security expert in Mexico City.

In this case, President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office in December promising to reduce the violence, had made clear that Mr. Treviño, who faces organized crime, murder, drug trafficking and torture charges, was a prime target. But, after years of what it saw as too much American involvement in its security agencies, the Mexican government wanted its forces to lead the way.

A senior American law enforcement official posted along the border, who was not authorized to speak on the record, described a recent meeting with his counterparts in Mexico City. “What I got from that meeting is that Mexico wants to prove it can handle this fight on its own — or at least on its own terms,” the official said.

Still, the Mexicans recognized the need for American help, and the two governments began sharing information on Mr. Treviño several months ago, with the Americans passing along word of the birth of Mr. Treviño’s child a little more than a month ago, the official said. The Americans also shared the information that he appeared to be making trips to visit the baby in the Nuevo Laredo area, near where he was captured, the official said.

The authorities traded intelligence gleaned from conversations caught on wiretaps and informants’ tips that led Mexican authorities to Mr. Treviño’s truck, moving before dawn on a highway near the border, the official said. Mexican marines in a helicopter intercepted Mr. Treviño and arrested him and two aides without a shot. Eight guns and $2 million in cash were confiscated.

“The reason they caught him without layers of security and without firing a shot,” said Art Fontes, a former F.B.I. official who spent years tracking Mr. Treviño, “is because he had $2 million in the vehicle and he thought he could buy his way out.”

While rumors about Mr. Treviño’s capture — including a photograph of him in custody — began appearing on Twitter late Monday morning, American officials said they were not formally notified about the arrest until hours later.

Mexican officials have not acknowledged any American role in the operation. Mr. Peña Nieto, the president, congratulated the navy on Tuesday and celebrated the capture as efficient coordination among agencies — Mexican ones. “I send my recognition and congratulation to the Mexican Navy and all the institutions in charge of our nation’s public security for the efficient work they have done,” he said at an event in central Mexico.

The Zetas took in substantial sums by running the migrant smuggling business through Mexico but were also known for preying upon those seeking to reach the United States. Mr. Treviño played a role in the death or disappearance of at least 265 of them, including 72 immigrants, mostly from Central America, who were found dead in northeastern Mexico in 2010, Mexican authorities said after his arrest.

The Rev. Pedro Pantoja, a Catholic priest in Saltillo, Mexico, who has been working with migrants for 20 years, said he had just returned from Guatemala, where he saw gang members working with the Zetas collecting thousands of dollars from people looking to reach the United States. No matter who is in charge, he said, the system will remain in place as poverty and criminal logistics combine, often with violence used as a way to maintain control.

“Organized crime still has all the power, with migrants, with kidnappings and with violence,” he said. “It will continue.”

Damien Cave contributed reporting from New York.

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Drug Kingpin Is Captured in Mexico Near Border

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

Published: July 15, 2013

MEXICO CITY — The leader of one of Mexico’s most violent and feared drug organizations, the Zetas, was captured Monday in a city near the Texas border, an emphatic retort from the new government to questions over whether it would go after top organized crime leaders.

The man, Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, 40, who goes by the nickname Z-40 and is one of the most wanted people on both sides of the border, was detained by Mexican marines Monday morning, Mexican officials said at a news conference Monday night.

He was detained about 3:45 a.m., without a shot being fired, as he traveled in a pickup truck near Nuevo Laredo, opposite Laredo, Texas, with two other men who were also detained, the officials said, adding that the marines seized $2 million in cash and weapons.

Mr. Treviño was ranked among the most ruthless crime bosses, wanted for murder, organized crime, and torture; he has been linked to the killing and disappearance of 265 migrants in northeastern Mexico, including 72 found dead in August 2010.

He also faces drug and gun charges in the United States, which has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Eduardo Sánchez, the spokesman on security matters for the Mexican government, declined to say what role the United States played in the capture, though American law enforcement tips have often been behind high-profile arrests.

An American law enforcement official declined to provide details, deferring to the Mexican government announcement of the arrest, which was first reported by The Dallas Morning News on its Web site.

The Zetas operate primarily in Mexico, but their drug trafficking and organized crime violence have spread to other countries, and they have been known to recruit members in Texas and even to launder money through the quarter-horse industry in the United States.

Started by former soldiers and once the enforcement arm of another large cartel, the gang is known in Mexico for its brutality, and its members’ calling card is often beheaded victims, body parts on highways and bodies hanged from bridges.

Mr. Treviño is the highest-ranking and most-sought-after drug capo arrested by the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico, whose aides had questioned the so-called kingpin strategy of his predecessor, which had emphasized high-profile arrests. The leadership voids, battles for turf and confrontations with Mexican forces all sent violence soaring in the past several years, with tens of thousands dead or missing.

The new government had scoffed at the deep level of involvement of American law enforcement and security agencies in Mexico and placed new limits on their access, causing some American officials and analysts to wonder whether it would be deeply committed to confronting the drug gangs. Michele M. Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, visited Mexico on Friday, and the leaders of Mexico’s army and navy are visiting Washington to forge closer ties.

The arrest will probably give doubters some hope, experts said.

“The success of the effort is likely to help build trust after a period of rocky relations on public security issues,” said Andrew Selee, a Mexico scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

Some analysts said the arrest could lead to further fragmentation of the gangs, which would reduce their ability to threaten state authority but might uncork further waves of violence.

“This takedown will boost Peña Nieto several points in the polls, even as he has spurned talking about violence and the narco war,” said George W. Grayson, a professor at the College of William and Mary who has written extensively on the drug gangs. “They fragment into ‘cartelitos,’ which, while dangerous, do not pose a threat to state security.”

Mr. Treviño had been the second in command until the Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano was killed in a battle with Mexican marines in October.

His body was carted off by armed men from a funeral home shortly afterward in an episode that turned triumph into embarrassment for Mexico’s president at the time, Felipe Calderón, whose tenure was marked by the killing or arrest of several cartel leaders except the most elusive: Joaquín Guzmán, known as El Chapo, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, considered the largest and most powerful supplier of cocaine to the United States.

At his peak, Mr. Treviño was widely feared and credited with helping to give the Zetas gang its reputation while transforming it from a hit squad to a mushrooming transnational criminal organization.

“He had all of Mexico and a lot of Central America under his tentacles,” said Art Fontes, a recently retired F.B.I. agent who was assigned to Mexico until late last year and is now a security consultant. “He was feared everywhere he went.”

In one of the organization’s bolder moves across the border, Mr. Treviño used a brother in the United States to launder tens of millions of dollars in drug proceeds by buying and selling expensive American quarter horses. José Treviño, the kingpin’s older brother, was convicted this year of running the business, whose operations were first reported by The New York Times.

But a number of drug war analysts have said that Mr. Guzmán’s cartel, an older, more established organization less prone to shocking violence, was beginning to overtake the Zetas, the younger, less disciplined outfit that branched out more into extortion, kidnapping and migrant smuggling.

Mexican law enforcement has arrested some of the Zetas’ most important leaders, including several of them just before Mr. Calderón’s term ended in December.

Insight Crime, a news and analysis Web site that closely tracks drug crime in the Americas, has reported that a Zetas splinter group called Los Legionarios emerged last year “with the express purpose of waging war against Z-40 and his organization.”

Ginger Thompson contributed reporting from New York.

A version of this article appeared in print on July 16, 2013, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Leader of Brutal Drug Gang Is Captured in Mexico.