DEA SWEEP TARGETS CARTELS IN RESPONSE TO AGENT'S SLAYING IN MEXICO

MEXICO CITY - Thousands of U.S. agents and local police officers
arrested and interrogated suspected associates of Mexican drug
cartels across the United States on Thursday in response to the
killing of a U.S. anti-narcotics agent in Mexico last week.

Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration launched the
operation Wednesday after the Mexican military announced the arrest
of eight suspects in the death of Jaime Zapata, a special agent for
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who was killed in a roadside
ambush. Zapata was buried in Texas on Tuesday.

DEA officials said the sweep netted more than 100 suspects - most of
them low-level - in Atlanta, Oakland, St. Louis, Denver, Detroit, San
Antonio, San Diego, Chicago and New Jersey, as well as in Colombia,
Brazil and Central America. The DEA said officers in the United
States have confiscated $8 million in cash, more than 100 weapons and
200 pounds of cocaine.

The DEA action, widely reported Thursday in Mexico, is intended to
send a strong message to Mexican mafias that U.S. agents are
off-limits, officials said.

"We're doing what we always do. But a message was sent. We want to
make sure the traffickers understand that we're going to unite to go
after them," said Derek Maltz, special agent in charge of the DEA's
special operations division.

Late Wednesday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced the
arrest of Julian Zapata Espinosa, who allegedly told investigators
that the shooting was a result of "confusion" - that the gunmen
either wanted to steal the armored sport-utility vehicle the agent
and a colleague were traveling in or suspected that they were enemy
cartel members.

Mexico's attorney general revealed that the leader of the Zeta drug
cell accused in the killing was arrested by the military in December
2009 after being found in possession of high-powered weapons,
camouflage uniforms and fake badges, but was released. In Mexico's
dysfunctional legal system, many sensational arrests are followed by
unpublicized releases.

Calderon and President Obama are scheduled to meet next week to
discuss the U.S.-backed drug war in Mexico. Calderon this week
defended the Mexican effort and labeled cooperation from the United
States "notoriously insufficient."

"How can Americans cooperate?" Calderon asked. "By reducing drug use,
which they haven't done. And the flow of weapons hasn't slowed; it
has increased."