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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Mexico nabs ‘El Marro,’ fuel theft king blamed for surge in drug violence |
| 2020-08-04 |
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Known as “El Marro” (The Mallet), Yepez was arrested in the early hours of Sunday by soldiers and state officials during a raid on a house in Guanajuato, a central state that has become the main flashpoint of record gang violence, authorities said. “This is a tremendously successful blow for the government,” said Raul Benitez, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Boss of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, a Guanajuato-based outfit, Yepez has been engaged in a bloody struggle for supremacy in the state with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent gangs. Yepez, 40, is the highest profile narco arrested so far under Lopez Obrador, who pledged to bring down record levels of violence plaguing Mexico when he took office in December 2018. Instead, homicides have further increased, and last October, the Lopez Obrador administration suffered serious embarrassment when it botched the detention of Ovidio Guzman, a son of incarcerated kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Guanajuato’s government said security forces captured Yepez and five other suspected gang members in a village called Franco Tavera in the Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas municipality, a few miles north of where the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel was born. During the swoop on two buildings, soldiers freed a local businesswoman who had been kidnapped and seized a cache of weapons, including a grenade launcher, the Defense Ministry said. Three people were found in the second property, including a sixth suspected gangster. Related: Guanajuato: 2020-07-02 Massacre reported in Irapuato, Mexico — 24 people dead Guanajuato: 2019-12-02 Chilling moment heavily armed cartel 'hitmen' storm Mexican hospital and kidnap a stretcher-bound patient who was later found brutally murdered and dismembered in the middle of a road Guanajuato: 2019-11-25 Video: Mexican Police Chief Resigns After Surviving Fierce Cartel Attack Related: Jalisco New Generation Cartel: 2020-07-22 Mexican president sticks to no-war approach and refuses to use force on drug cartels despite fighters showcasing their weapons in viral videos as murders hit new high of 17,439 for the first half of 2020 Jalisco New Generation Cartel: 2020-07-16 Barr Confirms Arrest of MS-13 Leaders Jalisco New Generation Cartel: 2020-06-02 One of the leaders of Mexico's most powerful criminal gangs is killed along with five others when armed group burst in and opened fire on concert being streamed on Facebook Live |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Taking bets in Vegas when he'll be sprung? Portland may have catch and release, but the true believers don't get paid as well as government employees do much further south on 'contract'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2020-08-04 16:39 |