The left-leaning Mexican journal La Jornada , which is published out of Mexico’s National Autonomous
University (UNAM), reported on
September 28 that the August 24 ambush by Mexican federal police on a
United States embassy vehicle may have been called out as a revenge attack by
remnants the Beltrán Leyva cartel. That story has now been “broken” by an Associated
Press (AP) “exclusive” on October 2nd.
If true, this an
unusual turn of events, given that, after years of suffering defeats at the
hands of the Mexican government and rival cartels, authorities had declared the Beltrán Leyva cartel disbanded and, effectively, out of
business. What isn’t odd, as we shall see, is that remnants of Beltrán Leyva
might engage in extreme acts of vengeance.
A Mexican Navy captain called for help from within the U.S. embassy vehicle
To support its report, AP cited a Mexican official as saying
that investigators are now looking at the Beltran Leyva Cartel as the source of
the ambush. A senior U.S. official also pointed to “strong circumstantial
evidence” that the police, who wounded two CIA agents in the attack, were
working for organized crime. The CIA agents have since returned to the United
States.
For its part, La Jornada
said that the attackers may not have been police officers at all, though it
acknowledges that their specific purpose was to execute the two CIA agents. From
the beginning the U.S. embassy has called the attack an ambush, though it did
not speculate on motive.
La Jornada,
referencing Mexican Military sources, said that the Mexican Navy had been collaborating
with the CIA for the past three and a half years. This suggests vengeance as a
motive, something Beltran Leyva is well-known for.
The Beltrán-Leyva Cartel was named after five brothers who
were originally employed by the Sinaloa Cartel: Arturo, Alfredo, Alberto,
Carlos and Héctor. Vengeance was their modus
operandi. For example, after Alfredo
Beltrán Leyva was arrested early in 2008, his brother, Arturo, thought it would
be a good idea to contract a hit on Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, Mexico’s
federal police commissioner, as well as other government officials. The plot
was foiled by authorities.
But the brothers then blamed the head of the Sinaloa Cartel,
Joaquin "Chapo" Guzmán, whom they were working for at the time, for
tipping off the government. To get even they had Guzmán’s son, Édgar Guzmán
López, taken out in a shopping centre parking lot by fifteen men armed with
grenade launchers and assault rifles. The
younger Guzmán was 22.
Another extreme example occurred after two efforts to capture
Arturo Beltrán Leyva in December, 2009, the second of which was successful.
During the first, on December 11, 2009, Arturo Beltrán Leyva
was holding a Christmas party in an affluent, highly-secure housing complex in
a suburb of Cuernavaca when the Mexican Navy's special forces attempted to
capture him. They failed, but not before killing three gunmen and an innocent
bystander. Then two weeks later, on December 16, Arturo was tracked to a luxury
apartment. Two hundred marines, some of whom rappelled from Navy Mil Mi-17
helicopters, engaged in a ninety minute shoot-out. They were supported by two
tanks. This time, Arturo didn’t make it out alive.
Mexico’s president Felipe Calderón unwisely though this
would be a big public relations victory for his government. To help boost morale,
military honours were ordered for a marine who was killed in the second attack.
The day after his highly-publicized funeral, the marine’s mother and other
family members were shot to death. Banners put on a nursery school warned of further
reprisals, and part of the school was also burnt down.
But Calderón had cause to draw attention to the marines’
loyalty and professionalism. The Mexican Navy, which has ground-based units
much like the United States Marines, has been at the forefront of Mexico’s
militarized war against the cartels. Though guilty of some human rights abuses,
the Navy’s elite forces are nonetheless perceived by the Mexican government –
and its people – as being more trustworthy than local, municipal, or federal
police, and more disciplined and professional than the regular army.
This is one reason why the CIA engages with the Mexican Navy.
At the time of the attack, the U.S. agents were en route with a marine
captain to an installation where the navy has a training camp. A vehicle opened
fire on them. Three other vehicles then joined in pursuit, with all four firing
on the grey Toyota SUV, which had clearly visible embassy plates.
Bullet-proof windows held off the sustained assault
The vehicles appear to have been civilian, though Mexican
officials are saying that it was federal police who fired on the SUV. So far,
twelve officers have been detained, with evidence taken by dozens of others.
It is possible that the officers failed to notice the diplomatic
plates, and that they thought this was a rival cartel’s vehicle, given that it
was armoured with bullet-proof, tinted windows, and travelling at high speed.
And it is also possible that remnants of Beltrán Leyva are doing what they have
always done, which is to exact vengeance on their enemies.
But it is hard to tell who is active in Beltrán Leyva now: cartel lieutenant Óscar
Osvaldo García Montoya, the last remaining soldier of any significance, was arrested
on August 11, 2011.
There is another possibility. Héctor Beltrán Leyva was second in command
when his brother Arturo was killed in late 2009. He may be back in gear. So
far, he has managed to elude a U.S. $5 million reward offer from the U.S.
Department of State, and another U.S. $2.1 million on offer from Mexican government.
After the violent break with Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel Héctor helped secure
difficult alliances with the unstable and ultra-violent Zetas and Gulf cartels.
What is certain is that the CIA officers were victims of an
organized hit, adding a sense of urgency to an investigation that has drawn the
world’s attention.
(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)
Twitter: @TimothyEWilson
(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)
Twitter: @TimothyEWilson
Email: lapoliticaeslapolitica [at] gmail [dot] com
N.B.: If you are having difficulty submitting to the e-mail feed at the top of this page, press "enter" on your keyboard instead of the "submit" button.
No comments:
Post a Comment