Mexico Under Siege

MEXICO ARRESTS MAJOR DRUG-TRAFFICKING SUSPECT

Jesus Zambada Garcia Is Captured After a Gun Battle in Mexico City. He
Commanded One of Four Branches of the Sinaloa Cartel, Officials Say.

Mexican authorities said Wednesday that they arrested a leading drug
figure known as El Rey after a shootout in Mexico City early this week.

Jesus Zambada Garcia, the brother of a suspected drug kingpin in the
western state of Sinaloa, was among 16 people captured Monday, Atty.
Gen. Eduardo Medina Mora said.

The attorney general said Zambada, whose nickname means "the king,"
commanded one of four branches of the so-called Sinaloa cartel,
leading its operations in central Mexico. Zambada is the brother of
Ismael Zambada and an associate of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, the
most-wanted trafficker in Mexico, officials said.

Jesus Zambada controlled smuggling of cocaine and chemical ingredients
for the production of methamphetamine through Mexico City's airport,
Medina Mora said. Authorities have focused attention in recent months
on drug smugglers' use of the country's largest airport.

Zambada has also been linked to gruesome drug killings in central and
western Mexico, prosecutors said.

"The arrest of Jesus Zambada Garcia, the King, stands out, without a
doubt, as one of the most significant by President [Felipe] Calderon's
government to date," Medina Mora told reporters. "It is not the only
one in recent months, nor will it be the last in the months to come."

Investigators are looking into Zambada's possible role in the
assassination of acting federal Police Chief Edgar Millan Gomez. The
police commander was ambushed in May by a gunman in his Mexico City
home, and authorities have long suspected that Sinaloa cartel
traffickers were behind the slaying.

Marisela Morales, who runs the organized-crime unit of the attorney
general's office, called Zambada "one of the most important" smugglers
of cocaine and methamphetamines into Mexico.

Zambada's arrest offered officials a much-needed chance to claim
progress in their uphill battle against drug traffickers.

Calderon declared a crackdown nearly two years ago, but drug-related
violence has worsened despite some high-profile arrests and hefty drug
seizures.

The death toll this year has exceeded 3,500, according to unofficial
tallies in the media, amid a wave of killings that has included
decapitations, scorched bodies and a growing list of innocent victims.

A grenade attack that killed eight civilians last month in the western
state of Michoacan fed an increasing sense among Mexicans that their
government is losing its war with well-armed drug gangs.

In Monday's incident, police came under fire after being led to a
house in northern Mexico City by a resident's tip. Police rounded up
the 16 suspects but were not able to immediately confirm Zambada's
identity, Morales said.

Prosecutors said Zambada's 21-year-old son, Jesus Zambada Reyes, and a
nephew were among those arrested.

On Wednesday, authorities lined up suspects and their seized weapons
before news cameras, and police searched the house where the shootout
took place.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday began a two-day
visit with Mexican officials in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta
that was to include discussion of Mexico's battle against
traffickers.

Mexican officials are eager for the release of a $400-million package
of U.S. training and equipment, known as the Merida Initiative.

The aid, approved by Congress in June, is the first part of a
three-year assistance package for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

In voting for the aid, Congress softened human rights prerequisites
that had raised the hackles of Mexican officials. Lawmakers had
attached the requirements to ensure that the aid would not be used to
repress ordinary Mexicans or fall into the hands of corrupt
authorities.

The two nations must reach agreement on final details of the
assistance before it is delivered.