MEXICAN COUNTERNARCOTICS PROSECUTOR EXPLAINS GULF CARTEL OPERATIONS

The large cartels have ceased to be operative, and have transferred
their structures to cells (smaller groups) through which routes,
corrupt officials, and even territories for operation are being
provided. These groups have even managed to move between 50 and 60
tons of drugs per month, claimed the one in charge of the Office of
the Special Prosecutor for Dealing With Crimes Against Health (FEADS),
Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.

At a press conference, the official remarked that the strongest
organizations in Mexico are: that of the brothers Benjamin and Ramon
Arellano Felix; that of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and Vicente Carrillo
Leyva, brother and son, respectively, of the late Amado Carrillo
Fuentes; and the Gulf Cartel, controlled by Osiel Cardenas Guillen;
because, he said, the Colima Cartel of the Amezcua Contreras brothers
"is inoperative."

Santiago Vasconcelos asserted: "The large cartels have ceased to be
operative, because in that form their identification was much more
rapid, their methods of movement much slower, and their organization
more detectable. So, they reversed or converted their structure into
operative cells.

"The latter are coordinated, with intercommunication, do not operate
independently, and are provided with assistance, routes, vehicles, and
even corrupt officials to continue their illicit activities. This
allows them a proliferation that complicates the efforts to pursue
them."

The director of the FEADS noted that this new type of operation has
been run for approximately two years, and was discovered specifically
in the Arellano Felix organization, when Ismael Higuera Guerrero,
alias "El Mayel"; Jesus "El Chuy" Labra Aviles; Gilberto Higuera
Guerrero, "El Gilillo"; and Rigoberto Yanez Guerrero, "El Primo" were
arrested.

The counternarcotics prosecutor commented: "As you can see, it is
simply a distribution of the work, with territorial districts and
definite obligations, with the coopting of authorities, and with a
guarantee of the drug shipments and the return of the money."

He explained that this conversion makes it possible to cut the size of
the organizations, because they are reduced to cells, but expands the
territories. In other words, there are cells that are engaged in
moving around drugs ranging from 50 to 60 tons per month.

As for the major organizations operating in Mexico, he claimed: "They
are still the Arellano Felix brothers' cartel; the cells of what
remains of the so-called Ciudad Juarez or Amado Carrillo Cartel, in
which the most visible heads are Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, "El
Azul"; Ramon Alcides Magana,"El Metro," and Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel;
and, in the case of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cardenas.

'El June' Remanded

At 2130 hours this Tuesday, the FEADS transferred Gilberto Garcia
Mena, "El June," to the maximum security prison at La Palma, in
Almoloya, State of Mexico. A judge with headquarters in Toluca will be
the one in charge of initiating criminal proceedings against him for
crimes against health in their various forms and illegal possession of
firearms, as well as violation of the law against organized crime.

As for the Gulf Cartel, Vasconcelos reported that among the results
accrued from the operation conducted by the FEADS and the Mexican Army
in the State of Tamaulipas was the successful dismantling of an
important cell of that organization and the seizure of 127 firearms,
four hand grenades, 2,134 packages of marijuana equivalent to over 20
tons of that drug, 18 kg of cannabis seed, and 52 vehicles; as well as
the search of 18 residences, 10 of which were confiscated.

He admitted that there are other leaders in the Gulf Cartel on the
same level as "El June," on whom there are already concrete data,
pointing out that hence this organization should not be considered to
have ceased operating.

He indicated that the FEADS thinks that there is a great operator in
the Gulf Cartel, namely, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, whose arrest is
expected soon. He observed: "That organization is not finished yet,
regardless of the fact that there is already an arrest warrant for
Osiel Cardenas, against whom we have already attempted various
operations that have not been favorable for us to date. However, we
expect to capture him soon."

He added that Cardenas "is currently the visible head within the Gulf
Cartel's area of influence," but added: "We have identified other drug
traffickers equally important as he, who also are subject to
investigation at present, as a result of the operations on what is
called the Frontera Chica [little border] over in Tamaulipas."

He explained: "Osiel Cardenas, besides being leader of an
organization, has control over the reduction of the cartel and,
therefore, upon the closure of their territory, they have begun having
many problems. That is why we also are seeing so many executions in
the areas."

Until 1997, the Gulf Cartel operated in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon,
Veracruz, Chihuahua, Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, and Yucatan, and, as
passageways for the drugs, it still controls the towns of Matamoros
and Nuevo Laredo, on the Mexican side; while in the United States it
controls the areas of Brownsville and Laredo, Texas.

Until 1997, the U.S. authorities were of the opinion that 20 percent
of the Colombian cocaine being consumed in the United States was
brought into that territory by the Gulf Cartel.

With regard to Gilberto Garcia Mea, the FEADS head claimed that it
will be be this Wednesday, at the latest, that he is remanded to a
judge, because the preliminary investigation against him is still
being completed, apart from the fact that he is already facing an
arrest warrant against him.

In Tamaulipas, at least 10 members of the State Public Prosecutor's
Office Police (PME), who are accused of being connected with the drug
traffic, left their posts in the municipalities of Miguel Aleman, Diaz
Ordaz, Camargo, and Mier, all near the settlement of Guardados de
Abajo, where the drug trafficker, Gilberto Garcia Mena, "El June," was
arrested. The police department, for its part, only confirmed the fact
that there are proceedings against two agents assigned to Miguel
Aleman, whose names it did not reveal, although it indicated that they
were being held in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas.

Guillermo Narvaez Perales, deputy director of the Tamaulipas PME, gave
assurance that the State Comptroller's Office is investigating two
agents from the State Public Prosecutor's Office Police "for
irregularities," which he did not specify, and that another member,
assigned to the so-called Frontera Chica, had requested leave "for
personal reasons."

Meanwhile, a source from the Tamaulipas State Attorney General's
Office claimed that it has not yet been specified how many agents were
held for presumed connections with "El June." The informant commented
that four PME commanders on the Frontera Chica have requested their
transfer to other localities.

Moreover, Hector Castro Lopez, the PME commander in Miguel Aleman,
reported that agents under his orders located seven abandoned vehicles
in various parts of the municipal main town, which had been reported
stolen in Texas and are suspected of having been used by "El June's"
ring.

Meanwhile, Raul Rodriguez Barrera, mayor of Miguel Aleman, denied
having requested leave from his position to dissociate himself from
"El June," pointing out that he had not been summoned to appear before
the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic.

Nevertheless, sources from the Tamaulipas General Secretariat of
Interior announced that the department had asked Rodriguez Barrera to
request leave until his relationship with "El June" and the charges
that might be brought against him have been made clear.

During 15 searches in the settlement of Guardados de Abajo, where "El
June" had his "general headquarters," and at other residences in
neighboring municipalities, the Office of the Special Prosecutor for
Dealing With Crimes Against Health found documents and photographs
linking the kingpin with the mayor and with the chief of Public
Safety, Zeferino Pena, whose whereabouts have been unknown since the
FEADS searched his residence in the Colonia Juarez of Miguel Aleman.

Formal Imprisonment Order Issued for 'El June's' Employees

Leopoldo Ceron Tinajero, the third federal judge of criminal
proceedings with headquarters in Toluca, State of Mexico, issued an
order for the formal imprisonment of the 19 presumed members of the
Gulf Cartel arrested on 2 April in Tamaulipas and confined since 4
April in the La Palma federal prison.

Those in custody, who have been formally incarcerated since this
Tuesday, are faced with charges against them for organized crime,
crimes against health, possession of marijuana for commercial
purposes, and the carrying and possession of arms intended for the
Army's exclusive use.

Although, in their preliminary statements, those indicted denied
knowing about "El June's" illicit activities, and claimed to be "day
laborers" who were taking care of a property owned by the drug
trafficker, the judicial authority concluded that there was sufficient
evidence for ordering their formal imprisonment.