http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php? ... xico_drugs
Friday, June 24, 2005

Mexico drugs run by 'The Alliance'

New trafficking coalition is a 'force to be reckoned with,' a law enforcement official says.

The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - A strong new Mexican drug-trafficking coalition headed by three kingpins works as a partnership in moving narcotics and battling for turf, a U.S. official said yesterday.
The coalition is so powerful that law enforcement officials dub it simply "The Alliance," or "The Federation," and it appears to be the most worrisome criminal force in Mexico, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"I think the alliance right now is the force to be reckoned with," the official said.

The partnership is said to involve Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Juan Jose "El Azul" Esparragoza, all described as sophisticated leaders.

"These guys are not just bums off the street," the official said. "If they were hired by General Motors, they could be CEOs."

The group, or one like it, may have been involved in the recent shipment of almost 5 tons of cocaine seized by police off Mexico's southern Pacific coast.

"We don't think there's one trafficker responsible for five tons of cocaine," the official said. "We believe that they each put up so much to get much ... so if there is a loss of that magnitude, it's absorbed by different factions."

Efforts to intercept the group's drugs have focused on sea routes through the Pacific and the Caribbean.

"The key to interdiction is to get it before its hits the ground," the official said. "Once it hits the ground in Mexico, you might as well say it's in the United States."