ALLEGED DRUG KINGPIN IS ARRESTED IN MEXICO

MEXICO CITY-Mexican police said Monday they had captured Edgar Valdez
Villareal, an American-born alleged drug lord nicknamed "La Barbie,"
giving the government of Felipe Calderon a much-needed win in its
escalating war against the country's powerful drug lords.

A police spokesman said Mr. Valdez Villareal, 37 years old, was
captured in central Mexico on Monday. The spokesman didn't give any
more details.

Mr. Valdez Villareal is alleged to have spent years as one of the top
men in the Beltran Leyva Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful
drug-trafficking groups. A legend in Mexican drug lore, Mr. Valdez
Villareal was born an American in Laredo, Texas, and nicknamed "La
Barbie" after the famous U.S. doll for his light-colored eyes and fair
skin.

Mr. Valdez Villareal's capture marks the latest in the parade of
captures of some of Mexico's alleged drug kingpins, boosting Mr.
Calderon's claim that despite rising casualties this year, traction is
being gained in the country's drug war through attacks on top
organized-crime operatives. Since 2006, more than 28,000 people have
been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico.

The government has also made progress in attacking the organizations
behind the violence. In December, the Mexican navy's special forces
killed Arturo Beltran Leyva, Mr. Valdez Villareal's alleged former
boss, in a spectacular firefight 50 miles from the capital.

Last month, the Mexican army killed Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel in a
similar confrontation in Guadalajara. The so-called "King of Crystal"
had gotten the name by trafficking countless tons of crystal
methamphetamine across the border, according to U.S. and Mexican
authorities.

Mr. Valdez Villareal, an equally famous figure, had broken off from
other drug cartels recently and had begun his own operation which he
called La Compania, according to George W. Grayson, a drugs expert and
professor at the College of William & Mary. "Having done that, he had
made many enemies, and therefore many people who could have informed
on him [to the Mexican police]," he said.

Since the death of his former boss, Mr. Valdez Villareal has been
fighting to take over the organization with Mr. Beltran Leyva's
brother, Hector Beltran Leyva , according to Mexican officials. The
war of succession has led to dozens of grisly killings in Cuernavaca
and in the Acapulco area, where Mr. Valdez Villareal is believed to
have his power base.

Mr. Valdez Villareal's apprehension differs from other recent cases in
the fact that he was taken alive. Analysts say he is likely to be
extradited to the U.S., where he was indicted in 2010 on charges of
trafficking thousands of pounds of cocaine. In that capacity, he could
potentially provide useful details on other drug traffickers in Mexico.

Yet the news came as Mexico's federal police was dealing with some
problems of its own. Earlier Monday, it announced that it had fired
one-tenth of the officers in its entire force en masse for failing
lie-detector tests and being suspected of corruption, among other problems.

The purge of about 3,200 officers, which was carried out over the past
week, is a blow to a relatively new force that is spearheading the
country's crackdown on organized crime and is supposed to have been a
model for a new kind of Mexican police officer.

While critics said the firings, the biggest in years in Mexico, were a
sign of persistent rot in one of Mexico's more reliable
law-enforcement institutions, others saw it as evidence that the
government of President Calderon is committed to rooting out corruption.

Federal Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas told a news conference that
the ousters were the result of screening tests administered throughout
the force, including lie-detector exams, a toxicology test to
determine drug use, and audits to see if an officer's income
corresponded to his standard of living-a way to determine if an
officer was engaging in lucrative illegal activity. Mr. Rosas added
that the dismissed officers would be barred from rejoining any police
agency-a common problem when officials have purged police in the past.

He also suggested the purge wasn't finished and said another 1,400
officers could soon be receiving pink slips.

The development wasn't good news for President Calderon. Shortly after
taking power, Mr. Calderon ordered Mexico's army into several states
to confront drug gangs because Mexico's local and state police forces
were widely viewed as too corrupt and incompetent to tackle the problem.

Many Mexicans said they feared that the fired officers would simply
join drug gangs, which are largely responsible for the tens of
thousands of people killed in drug-related violence since Mr. Calderon
took power in December 2006.

"Congratulations, we've just trained a few thousand more hardened
criminals and turned them loose on the streets," a reader named
Gerardo wrote in the online comments section of Mexico's Reforma newspaper.

In recent years, Mexico's crime organizations have hung banners in
public squares with recruitment messages aimed at law-enforcement
officials dissatisfied with salaries.