Capture of cartel boss Hector Beltrán Leyva ends infamous cocaine dynasty

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/02/mexico-hector-beltran-leyva-arrest-cocaine-dynasty

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The arrest of Hector Beltrán Leyva marks the final blow to the band of four brothers who gave their name to one of Mexico’s most infamous drug cartels, as the old generation of Mexican kingpins moves towards extinction.

The 49-year-old drug lord, for whom the US authorities offered a reward of $5m, was on Wednesday captured by the army while dining in a seafood restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, a pretty central Mexican town that is popular with American retirees and artists. He was arrested in the company of a Querétaro businessman and member of the local Green party. Both men were armed, though no shots were fired.

Announcing the arrest, a government spokesman, Tomás Zerón, said Beltrán Leyva had been living in the nearby city of Quéretaro. “He had left behind a lifestyle of showy luxury cars, opting for a [lower profile] identity of a wealthy businessman dedicated to real estate and the art market.”

The kingpin known as “El H” was arrested in the company of a Querétaro businessman and member of the local Green party. Zerón said both men were armed, though no shots were fired.

Though still described as an important criminal organisation, the Beltrán Leyva cartel has lost considerable sway since it was said to control most of the cocaine traffic from South America to the US a decade ago. Its recent history of multiple divisions and internecine warfare epitomises the fragmentation characterising Mexico’s organised crime.The Beltrán Levya family grew up a mountainous region of the northern state of Sinaloa known as the “cradle of drug trafficking” due to the large number of kingpins born there.

The criminal structure the brothers built became a particularly prominent member of the Sinaloa federation, set up by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán after he escaped from jail in 2001. Their split from that alliance in 2008 detonated a bloody and bitter turf war.

The family accused Guzmán of engineering the arrest of the youngest brother, Alfredo, in January that year. Guzmán came out on top after Arturo Beltrán Leyva, the group’s leader at the time, was taken down by the army in an apartment complex in the central city of Cuernavaca December 2009. Arturo died in a Scarface-like battle to the death alongside a handful of his bodyguards.

Two weeks later the authorities arrested Carlos, the lowest profile of the brothers. This left only Hector, who took over leadership of the remnants of the core group as it fought another bitter battle against other factions.

Five years on, most of the cartel’s old rivals are now dead or in jail, including Chapo Guzmán who was arrested this year. One of the few of the old generation still at large is another Sinaloa veteran, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

Meanwhile, the original Beltrán Leyva cartel has provided leaders for many groups involved in today’s smaller scale but often equally deadly turf wars, particularly in the state of Guerrero. The recent wave of violence in the city of Iguala, including an attack on students at the weekend that left 43 missing, was believed to involve one such group, the Guerreros Unidos.

Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, celebrated the capture of Beltrán Leyva with a tweet describing the event as “proof of the efficacy of the public security policy and pursuit of justice that will bring the peace we desire for Mexico”.