CAPTURE OF SUSPECTED DRUG LORD NOT LIKELY TO BE DEATH BLOW FOR CARTEL

MEXICO CITY - The capture of suspected drug lord Francisco Javier Arellano
Felix has "totally devastated" the Tijuana drug cartel, Mexican Attorney
General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said Thursday, disputing the opinion of some
experts who said his arrest would not mean much either to the organization
or to the larger fight against drug trafficking in Mexico.

Cabeza de Vaca also said Mexico would seek Arellano Felix's extradition to
Mexico, but perhaps not until he had been tried and sentenced for crimes in
the United States.

With the reputed drug capo's capture, the organization known as the
Arellano Felix cartel has been "taken apart," Cabeza de Vaca told the
Televisa television network in a morning interview.

"The cells can continue to try operating, but no longer as a cartel, as the
dominant group," he said, adding, "With this (arrest), the Arellanos'
cartel is pretty much totally devastated."

U.S. authorities announced Wednesday that they had "taken the head off the
snake" with the arrest of Arellano Felix aboard a boat off Mexico's Pacific
coast earlier in the week, but analysts said the arrest didn't mean that
much because the gang has effectively lost much of its influence over the
years, and Arellano Felix was a relatively minor player in the group.

"For the war against drugs, this means nothing, since Francisco Javier was
not an important part of the organization. He was somebody who had the fame
and money of an Arellano Felix," said Jesus Blancornelas, a Tijuana
journalist who has chronicled the city's drug trade for decades and was
wounded in a 1997 assassination attempt linked to the cartel.

"Francisco Javier was a sort of playboy," Blancornelas said. "He likes to
spend money and enjoy his fame. He drives around in luxury cars."

Even the nickname of the 36-year-old suspect suggested his secondary
status: "El Tigrillo," or "The Little Tiger."

"This is unlikely to dramatically change the distribution of drugs in the
United States," said Mexican analyst Jorge Fernandez Menendez.

But Cabeza de Vaca said Mexico's "official position ... is that he is the
absolute leader of the Tijuana cartel."

He added that authorities feared the arrest would unleash more drug-related
violence near the U.S. border as others tried to fill in the power vacuum
and as cartel members tried to figure out who tipped authorities to
Arellano Felix's whereabouts.

"This could generate internal battles," Cabeza de Vaca said. "They don't
know who it was who betrayed them, who the informant was, and consequently,
there will be some settling of scores among them."

At its bloody peak in the 1990s, the Tijuana organization was led by
brothers Ramon and Benjamin Arellano Felix. But Ramon died in a shootout in
2002, and Benjamin was arrested the same year.

The Tijuana gang then began to weaken and is believed to have joined a
loose alliance with Mexico's Gulf Cartel to protect their turf against an
onslaught by a rival bloc sometimes known as "the federation" led by
Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Although Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas was arrested in 2003, Guzman had
escaped from prison two years before, leaving President Vicente Fox with a
mixed record in collaring major drug lords.

"This is the first time in a few years that they have arrested one among
the more famous (drug traffickers), but he isn't really a big-time
trafficker," Blancornelas said.

Experts say the real brains behind the cartel's operations may be a
surprise: one of the men's four sisters, Enedina Arellano Felix, or
possibly a fourth brother among seven Francisco Eduardo.

Francisco Eduardo is still at large in Mexico, but U.S. officials say he is
not considered "capable of leading the organization at this time."

The Arellano Felix cartel is believed to be responsible for massive drug
tunnels discovered last January, the longest of which stretched 2,400 feet
(730 meters) from a warehouse near the Tijuana airport to a warehouse in
San Diego's Otay Mesa industrial district. More than 1.8 metric tons (2
U.S. tons) of marijuana were found in the tunnel.

The cartel's success came from the loyalty of its members and the ability
to find a niche in the international drug market, Speziale said.

Colombian drug cartels would pay shipping charges to the Arellano Felix
cartel as well as pass along 50 percent of their load. In exchange, the
Mexican cartel would set up and maintain airstrips to allow transportation
of the wholesale drugs into Mexico, arrange for the drugs to cross into the
lucrative U.S. marketplace and establish a distribution network there,
Speziale said.

Associated Press writer Andrew Glazer in Los Angeles contributed to this report.