MEXICAN MILITARY'S RAID KILLS REPUTED DRUG CARTEL LEADER

MEXICO CITY The death of a notorious drug lord in a shootout with
Mexican commandos dealt a blow to organized crime in Mexico but will
probably lead to a new surge of violence as rivals battle to fill a
power void, U.S. and Mexican authorities said Thursday.

Arturo Beltran Leyva, regarded as one of the top three traffickers in
Mexico and leader of one of its most violent cartels, the Beltran
Leyva organization, was killed late Wednesday during a four-hour
gunbattle involving 400 Mexican army and navy commandos.

Analysts said the use of navy commandos was a notable development in
the drug war because they are regarded as elite fighters who operate
beyond the reach of corrupting influences.

In addition to Beltran Leyva, three other cartel members were killed
in the shootout in the city of Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City. A
fourth gunman apparently committed suicide, throwing himself from a
high-rise building in which the cartel leader and his guards were holed up.

A navy spokesman said one sailor was killed and two others were
injured during the gunfight. Officials said Beltran Leyva had been
given the opportunity to surrender but declined.

President Felipe Calderon, speaking from Copenhagen, where he was
attending the U.N. climate change conference, called the death of
Beltran Leyva "an important achievement for the people and government
of Mexico, and a convincing blow to one of the most important and
most dangerous criminal organizations in Mexico and in the continent."

More than 15,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence
since Calderon took office in December 2006.

Describing the navy as highly segregated from Mexican society, a U.S.
intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
sailors "are surrounded by ocean. It's hard for the cartels to
corrupt them there."

The official lauded what he described as a "much more effective"
level of cooperation and intelligence-sharing with the naval units.

Wednesday's raid "is by no means the end of the violence in Mexico,"
the official said. "It's likely that things will get even bloodier in
the days and weeks to come" as rival groups try to use the leadership
void to improve their position.

At a news conference Thursday in Mexico City, Attorney General Arturo
Chavez Chavez described the raid as "a big advancement in the
government's fight against organized crime."

Asked if U.S. law enforcement agencies had played a role, Chavez
Chavez said: "This was an operation designed by the navy and
implemented by the navy. I have no information on the role of any
U.S. agencies, but it's likely that they played a role, given that
our corroboration has become more fluent, and there's more trust."

He said that the military, including the navy, would continue to
battle the cartels until they no longer pose a "national security threat."

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, praised the operation,
saying it "demonstrates Mexico's determination and increasing
capacity to debilitate the drug cartels and criminal networks."

"Beltran Leyva was responsible for some of the most heinous acts of
violence in Mexico's recent history," the ambassador said in a
prepared statement. "And he ran major importation and distribution
networks that put literally tons of cocaine on American streets."

A senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, congratulated the Calderon administration and described
cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican governments as "excellent"
under the U.S. assistance plan known as the Merida Initiative.

Beltran Leyva, known as the "Boss of Bosses," had been hotly pursued
by Mexican authorities in recent months, Chavez Chavez said. His most
recent escape was last Thursday, when navy commandos raided a party
at which Beltran Leyva and other top cartel figures were being
entertained by popular norteno music groups, including Ramon Ayala y
Sus Bravos del Norte, a group popular in North Texas. Ayala has a
home in Hidalgo, Texas. The musicians were being questioned by
authorities in Mexico City and may face charges, Chavez Chavez said.

After his escape, Beltran Leyva was tracked by authorities for six
days until they cornered him at the high-rise apartment in
Cuernavaca, Chavez Chavez said. They evacuated other residents of the
complex and then launched the raid.

Beltran Leyva had been a key member of the so-called Federation, a
conglomerate of trafficking organizations that included the Sinaloa
and Juarez cartels. But almost two years ago he broke with the
Sinaloa cartel and its leader, Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, and began
targeting top federal authorities, according to Diego Enrique Osorno,
a journalist and author of a recently released book, The Sinaloa
Cartel. The kingpin's targets included U.S.-trained officials and law
enforcement personnel with access to sensitive information.

Beltran Leyva and Guzman, along with Heriberto Lazcano of the Zetas,
a paramilitary group based along the Mexico-Texas border, have been
regarded as the three most wanted traffickers in Mexico.

Within his organization, Beltran Leyva was said to be responsible for
the states of Guerrero and Morelos and the Mexico City region. He
also had a strong presence in Monterrey, near the Texas border, where
he was allied with both the Zetas and the Juarez cartel.

Alberto Islas, a security expert in Mexico City, said that taking
down the head of a cartel does not always lead to a weakened organization.

"Within minutes the cartel will name a successor, and the violence
will continue as they try to protect their territory," Islas said.
"The violence may now escalate even more in the states of Guerrero,
Morelos and, sadly, Mexico City. The international airport here is a
huge target for traffickers, and Beltran controlled the trafficking
there. So I would expect to see more violence there."