MEXICAN CARTEL SUSPECT BOUND FOR U.S.

MEXICO CITY - 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 along with
three other suspects in the state of Baja California Sur. 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."

In a statement, Garza called Rivera Martinez "the de-facto head of the
Arellano Felix crime family" and said he is wanted on drug charges in
Southern California.

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.

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.

The cartel's influence is widely thought to have waned in recent years
as its leaders have been killed or captured.

Francisco Javier Arellano Felix was sentenced to life in prison in the
United States in November on charges that he led the cartel after the
capture of brother Benjamin Arellano Felix.

Benjamin Arellano Felix was recently sentenced to 22 years in prison
in Mexico on drug trafficking charges.

Another brother, Ramon Arellano Felix, was killed in a shootout with
police in February 2002.

The oldest of the seven Arellano Felix brothers, Francisco Rafael,
spent years imprisoned in Mexico and was later extradited to the
United States.