El Paso man may be leader in Juárez drug cartel

By Daniel Borunda \ El Paso Times
Posted: 12/30/2011 12:00:00 AM MST

Juárez authorities said a man arrested Wednesday and identified as an El Pasoan is believed to be a leader in La Linea crime organization.

Juárez police identified the suspect as Arturo Bautista, 31, but it was unclear Thursday whether that was his real name. La Linea is another name for the Juárez drug cartel.

Police Chief Julián Leyzaola told reporters that Bautista, alias "El Mil Amores" (The Thousand Loves), and three other men were arrested after the fatal shooting of Patricia Saenz Cruz, 35, on Wednesday morning in the Felipes Angeles area west of the downtown.

Saenz was killed for allegedly passing information to a rival group, the chief said.

Leyzaola said a police patrol spotted the vehicle used in the shooting. A large police response resulted in the arrest of the shooting suspects, who then led police to a safe house where Bautista and others were found. Police seized two assault rifles and three handguns.

"He is a leader in La Linea," Leyzaola told Juárez Channel 44. "He has given several names. First, he said he was Javier Gonzalez Gonzalez and then Arturo Bautista. I don't know if that is his real name. Prosecutors will determine what his real name is."

The others arrested were David Velasquez Ramirez, 30, of Guadalajara, and Juárez natives Jesus Ivan Hernandez, 24, and Angel Yoban Terrazas, 32.

Juárez officials said Bautista is from El Paso but the U.S. Consulate in Juárez "has no indication at this

moment that the subject is a U.S. citizen," consulate officials said Thursday in a statement.
El Mexicano and other newspapers reported that Bautista reputedly oversaw drug-dealing spots, extortion rackets and murders and was the possibly the successor to reputed Linea boss José Antonio "El Diego" Acosta Hernández, who was captured in July.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman in El Paso said there was no initial information to suggest that Bautista was a leader in La Linea, which for four years has been at war with the Sinaloa cartel for control of the Juárez region.

A spokesman for the PGR, or Mexican attorney general's office, would confirm only that the four men are in federal custody on firearms charges. More information may be released in the coming days, he said.

Asked by a television reporter whether the case was an "important" arrest, Leyzaola, a retired lieutenant colonel of the Mexican army, responded the arrests merely "reaffirmed" the work of the Police Department.

"These are delinquents, criminals, murderers," Leyzaola said. "At the end, they really don't deserve to be placed in the position of important people."

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

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