Thread: Mexico nabs high-ranking Zetas drug gang member 'El Taliban'

Mexico nabs high-ranking Zetas drug gang member 'El Taliban'

By Reuters

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican navy said on Wednesday it had captured one of the leaders of the Zetas drug cartel, a notoriously brutal gang reported to be breaking apart due to an internal feud.

The navy said it had caught the man it believed to be Zetas boss Ivan Velazquez in the central state of San Luis Potosi, in a boost to outgoing President Felipe Calderon's efforts to crack down on the violent cartels.

The Zetas have perpetrated some of the most sickening acts of Mexico's drug war and continued to expand even as rival gangs joined forces against them. They are now regarded as one of the two most powerful drug cartels in the country.

Velazquez is due to be paraded before the media on Thursday morning as is customary with such captures in Mexico.

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The suspected gang leader surrendered to the navy in the city of San Luis Potosi without a shot being fired, an eyewitness told Reuters.
Known as "Z-50" or "El Taliban," Velazquez has been one of the leading figures in the Zetas. Formed by a group of army deserters in the late 1990s, the gang acted as enforcers for the Gulf Cartel before splitting with their employers in 2010.
Longstanding rivalry between the Zetas' top leader, Heriberto Lazcano, and his second-in-command Miguel Trevino has exploded into violence, raising fears the hostilities could bring a fresh wave of bloodletting.

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Switched allegiance
The Zetas boast 10,000-plus gunmen, and the prospect of them fighting for control of local trafficking networks and smuggling routes has alarmed security experts.
However, the split also brings benefits for the government, as members of the gang inform against former colleagues.

A video "mockumentary" that shows children as kidnappers, corrupt cops and drug traffickers sparked a fierce debate in violence-torn Mexico. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

Earlier this week, Mexican news magazine Proceso reported that Velazquez had switched his allegiance to the Gulf Cartel due to a rupture with Trevino, citing messages posted online.
Velazquez is listed by the government as one of the country's most-wanted drug kingpins. The Mexican government has offered a reward of up to 30 million pesos ($2.34 million) for information leading to his arrest.

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Since 2009, more than 20 drug lords have been caught or killed. The most recent capture came two weeks ago, when the navy arrested Gulf Cartel head Jorge Costilla, alias "El Coss."
Earlier on Wednesday, the navy announced the capture of 18 suspected Zetas in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.

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How to contain the threat posed by the drug gangs is one of the main challenges facing Calderon's successor Enrique Pena Nieto, who is due to take office on December 1.
About 60,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence during Calderon's six-year term.

Mexico nabs high-ranking Zetas drug gang member 'El Taliban' - World News

El Taliban? You mean to tell me that one of the highest ranking members of Lost Zetas is called El Taliban and nobody told the American public in all these articles we have been collecting on the subject for years!?!?!

This is outrageous!

I just checked the ALIPAC archives, someone please confirm my findings.

I only find mention of the term "El Taliban" in our archives 3-4 times, all in articles that just came out this year.

How long has the American media and our own government been hiding El Taliban from us???

W

The term is now all over the Internet mostly over the last 24 hours due to this article.

W

It's a nickname given to him by his fellow gang members.

It doesn't mean he's a member of the talaban.

Alfredo Estrella / AFP - Getty Images
Ivan Velazquez Caballero, aka "Z 50" or "El Taliban" (second from the right), senior leader in the Zetas drug cartel and member of the Gulf cartel, is presented to the press at the Mexican Navy headquarters in Mexico City, on Sept. 27, 2012.

---------------------------------------------

I see no visible Muslim terrorist connections, at least appearance-wise.

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

I see no visible Muslim terrorist connections, at least appearance-wise.

No burka.

Mexico captures one of most wanted drug traffickers

September 27, 2012 7:11 AM
MARK STEVENSON,Associated Press


MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico appeared to strike a major blow against one faction of the hyper-violent Zetas cartel Wednesday night, with the navy announcing it had captured one of the country's most-wanted drug traffickers, Ivan Velazquez Caballero, known as "El Taliban."

Velazquez Caballero has been fighting a bloody internal battle with top Zetas' leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, and officials have said the split was behind a recent surge in massacres and shootouts, particularly in northern Mexico.

"A person who is presumed to be, and acknowledges being, Ivan Velazquez Caballero, was captured in the state of San Luis Potosi" in north-central Mexico, the navy said in a statement.

Also known as "Z-50," Velazquez Caballero has a 30 million peso ($2.3 million) reward on his head.

If confirmed, Velazquez Caballero's arrest could calm some of the brutal violence that has hit border cities like Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, in recent weeks.

On Sept. 14, eight men were found shot to death and one hanging from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo, territory traditionally controlled by Trevino Morales, alias "Z-40." Analysts say 14 bullet-ridden bodies stuffed in a van in mid-August in San Luis Potosi were men loyal to "El Taliban," left there as a warning by Trevino Morales' underlings.

Discussing recent fighting, a U.S. official in Mexico who was not authorized to be quoted by name said earlier this week that "I think right now the uptick that I'm seeing is between '40' and '50'," referring to Trevino Morales and Velazquez Caballero by their "Z'' aliases.

The official said Velazquez Caballero appeared to have formed an alliance of convenience with the Knights Templar cartel based in southern Michoacan state for his fight with Trevino Morales.

A number of banners signed by various elements of the Zetas and hung from overpasses in several Mexican states appeared to confirm mutual hatred between Trevino Morales and Velazquez Caballero. In the obscenity-laden banners, the two capos accused each other of betraying their fellow traffickers.

If the man arrested as "El Taliban" is confirmed, the development could strengthen Trevino Morales, who shares leadership of the Zetas with Heriberto Lazcano, alias "El Lazca."

The U.S. official played down recent speculation that Trevino Morales and Lazcano had also fallen out.

"I'm not familiar with a fight between him (Trevino Morales) and Lazca," the official said. "I think he and Lazca — Lazca is doing his thing and he is doing his, and they're still together from what I understand."

A strengthened hand for Trevino Morales would be something few in Mexico want to see.

Lawmen and even competing drug capos picture Trevino as a brutal assassin who favors getting rid of foes by stuffing them into oil drums, dousing them with gasoline and setting them on fire, a practice known as a "guiso," a Spanish word for "stew."

The Zetas are already considered the hemisphere's most violent criminal organization. They have been blamed for a large share of the tens of thousands of deaths in Mexico's war on drugs, though other gangs also have repeatedly committed mass slayings.

Mexico captures one of most wanted drug traffickers | mexico, most, one - Brownsville Herald

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

It's a nickname given to him by his fellow gang members.

It doesn't mean he's a member of the talaban.

I understand that, but one of the leaders of one the most powerful and feared faction of paramilitaries invading America with illegals, drugs, and weapons doing their damage showing any sign of identification with, solidarity with, or association with the Islamo fascists we are fighting in Ahganistan is a MAJOR distinction.

One that has apparently been withheld from us all unless you contend that he either A. Only recently was dubbed El Taliban or B. The American media and US Government just recently learned his nickname is El Taliban.

I find A and B to be less likely that the highly probably C option where the biased government and main stream media sources we see lying to the American public and covering up illegal alien mass murder atrocities on a weekly basis probably concealed the name El Taliban from us prior to this point fearing the potential public backlash at one of these killer gangs being led by a name assumed in solidarity with the enemies of our ground troops deployed and at war!

W

Mexico says it captured senior Zetas cartel leader "El Taliban"


Reuters 2:52 p.m. CDT, September 27, 2012


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican navy says it has captured one of the leaders of the Zetas drug cartel, adding to signs that the notoriously brutal gang is rupturing, possibly because of an internal feud.

The navy said late on Wednesday it had caught the man believed to be Zetas boss Ivan Velazquez, aka "El Taliban" or "Z-50," in central Mexico, boosting outgoing President Felipe Calderon's efforts to crack down on the violent cartels.


Velazquez is on a Mexican government list of the most wanted kingpins and one of the Zetas most senior second-tier leaders. Mexico has offered a reward of up to 30 million pesos ($2.34 million) for information leading to his arrest.

The Zetas have perpetrated some of the most sickening acts of Mexico's drug war and continued to expand even as rival gangs joined forces against them. They are now regarded as one of the two most powerful drug cartels in the country.

However, longstanding rivalry between the Zetas' top leader, Heriberto Lazcano, and his deputy Miguel Trevino alias "Z-40," has exploded into violence in recent weeks, raising fears the hostilities could bring a fresh wave of bloodletting.

"They are splitting," Javier Oliva, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said after the capture of Velazquez. More bloodshed would likely follow, he added.

"Every time they capture a major crime boss, his organization fragments, so the violence increases, and this atomization makes the government's fight harder," he said.

The navy paraded Velazquez, 42, before the media on Thursday morning, cuffed and flanked by masked soldiers carrying assault rifles. Wads of cash, weapons and seized drugs were laid out on a table in front of him for a customary photo op.

Wearing a black, cream and red checked shirt, his hair brushed to the side, Velazquez stood stern-faced as the navy accused him of controlling swathes of territory for the Zetas, of money-laundering and acting as the group's financial chief.

He surrendered to the navy in the central city of San Luis Potosi without a shot being fired, an eyewitness told Reuters.

Navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara said Velazquez was believed to be the Zetas' regional boss in a host of central and northern states, territory which includes the wealthy industrial city of Monterrey. He was thought to be locked in a power struggle with the Zetas' number two, Trevino, he added.

Vergara said it was Velazquez's conflict with Trevino which likely spurred the massacre of 14 suspected Zetas by rival Zetas on the outskirts of San Luis Potosi last month.

SWITCHING ALLEGIANCES

Formed by a group of army deserters in the late 1990s, the gang acted as enforcers for the Gulf Cartel before parting ways violently with their former employers in 2010.

Velazquez is the most senior Zetas figure to be captured since that split and the infighting among their ranks appears to be sparking a realignment within the gang.

Earlier this week, Mexican news magazine Proceso reported that Velazquez had switched his allegiance to the Gulf Cartel due to a rupture with Trevino, citing messages posted online.

While Mexico's government and rival gangs may welcome fighting within the Zetas, an explosion of violence could become a major headache for President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto.

About 60,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence during Calderon's six-year term.

Pena Nieto takes office on December 1 and has vowed to quickly reduce the number of beheadings and mass executions seen over the past six years. But if the Zetas cartel were to break up, it could unleash havoc as its 10,000-plus gunmen fight for control of local trafficking networks and smuggling routes.

Security expert Oliva estimated there were now about five times as many criminal groups holding sway around Mexico as there were at the outset of Calderon's administration.

Since 2009, more than 20 drug lords have been caught or killed. The most recent capture came two weeks ago, when the navy arrested Gulf Cartel head Jorge Costilla, alias "El Coss."

On Wednesday, the navy announced the capture of 18 suspected Zetas in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.
Mexico says it captured senior Zetas cartel leader "El Taliban" - chicagotribune.com