Mexico arrest drug cartel leader from US

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Mexican authorities announced Wednesday that they have captured a U.S. citizen alleged to be a top member of a major drug cartel and said they will send him back to the United States immediately.

Gustavo Rivera Martinez, 46, reputed to be a top member of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel, will be turned over to agents of the U.S. government, which wants him on drug charges, Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino told a news conference.

Rivera Martinez took over the cartel's operation after the arrest of Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, said federal Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, who also attended the news conference along with the deputy federal attorney general for international affairs, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.

Vasconcelos said Rivera Martinez was captured Tuesday night in the state of Baja California Suralong with three other suspects, including a Canadian citizen whom police identified as Pavel Kulisek of Vancouver. The other suspects appeared to be providing Rivera Martinez with security, but their exact links to the cartel are still under investigation, Vasconcelos said.

Rivera Martinez has been a fugitive since 2002, according to information posted on the Web site of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. government has offered a $2 million reward for his capture.

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza praised the government of Mexican President Felipe Calderon for landing "another strong blow against narcotrafficking."

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The arrest followed an investigation in which Mexican police intelligence authorities collaborated with their counterparts at the DEA, Mourino said.

According to Garcia Luna, Rivera Martinez was responsible for the logistics of transferring drugs to the United States and also oversaw money-laundering.

The Arellano Felix cartel emerged as a drug trafficking powerhouse in the 1980s in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, when it recruited dozens of police into its ranks and paid millions of dollars in bribes to law enforcement and military personnel.

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This is another win against the Mexican drug insurgency and is a good example of what can be accomplished when countries work together to stop the insurgents. Sending him back to the US is a win win deal for Mexico and the US. Mexico gets rid of a bad guy and will not have to worry about him corrupting the prison system and the US can put him out of commission. Mexico needed this in a week where another official has been accused of corruption in Mexico City.