Spring Break
Mexico offers $2 million for top drug lords
ALEXANDRA OLSON - The Associated Press
Issue date: 3/24/09 Section: News
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's government on Monday offered $2 million each for information leading to the arrest of 24 top drug lords in a public challenge to the cartels' violent grip on the country.
The list indicated that drug gangs have splintered into six main cartels under pressure from the U.S. and Mexican governments. The two most powerful gangs - the Pacific and Gulf cartels - each suffered fractures that have given rise to new cartels, according to the list published by the Attorney General's Office.
The list offers 30 million pesos ($2 million) in rewards for 24 top members of the cartels and 15 million pesos ($1 million) for 13 of their lieutenants.
Mexico's drug violence has killed more than 9,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 as gangs battle each other for territory and fight off a government crackdown. Some of that violence is spilling over into the United States, especially the Southwest, where kidnaps and killings are on the rise.
The rewards are the largest Mexico has ever offered for top drug lords, said Ricardo Najera, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office. Some of the men, such as suspected Pacific cartel leaders Joaquin Guzman and Ismael Zambada, are targeted by separate $5 million reward offers from the U.S. government.
The new list appeared to be the first offering rewards for all the most wanted cartel members at once. It offered insight into the reorganization of the cartels more than two years into Calderon's military crackdown against them.
The Beltran Leyva and Carrillo Fuentes gangs - once considered affiliated with the Sinaloa group under the Pacific cartel alliance - were listed as their own cartels. So was La Familia, which operates in central Mexico and was once considered a gang that answered to the Gulf cartel.
Calderon's government has attributed fractures in the cartels to the military crackdown, saying the arrest of drug kingpins has set off internal battles for control that have led to Mexico's sharp surge in violence. It dismisses suggestions by some U.S. officials that Mexico is losing control of some of its territory.
The list indicated that drug gangs have splintered into six main cartels under pressure from the U.S. and Mexican governments. The two most powerful gangs - the Pacific and Gulf cartels - each suffered fractures that have given rise to new cartels, according to the list published by the Attorney General's Office.
The list offers 30 million pesos ($2 million) in rewards for 24 top members of the cartels and 15 million pesos ($1 million) for 13 of their lieutenants.
Mexico's drug violence has killed more than 9,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 as gangs battle each other for territory and fight off a government crackdown. Some of that violence is spilling over into the United States, especially the Southwest, where kidnaps and killings are on the rise.
The rewards are the largest Mexico has ever offered for top drug lords, said Ricardo Najera, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office. Some of the men, such as suspected Pacific cartel leaders Joaquin Guzman and Ismael Zambada, are targeted by separate $5 million reward offers from the U.S. government.
The new list appeared to be the first offering rewards for all the most wanted cartel members at once. It offered insight into the reorganization of the cartels more than two years into Calderon's military crackdown against them.
The Beltran Leyva and Carrillo Fuentes gangs - once considered affiliated with the Sinaloa group under the Pacific cartel alliance - were listed as their own cartels. So was La Familia, which operates in central Mexico and was once considered a gang that answered to the Gulf cartel.
Calderon's government has attributed fractures in the cartels to the military crackdown, saying the arrest of drug kingpins has set off internal battles for control that have led to Mexico's sharp surge in violence. It dismisses suggestions by some U.S. officials that Mexico is losing control of some of its territory.
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