Mexico arrests Gulf cartel kingpin at Cancun resort

[babylonsister]

Mexico arrests Gulf cartel kingpin at Cancun resort

By Sara Miller Llana | Christian Science Monitor


MEXICO CITY_Most vacationers to Mexico's coastal resort towns prefer not to be bothered. They might turn off their cellphones and shun nightly newscasts to escape into beach days that blur into one another.

But lately, the reality of the nation's brutal drug war keeps intruding.

The Mexican military announced on Sunday that a local leader of the powerful Gulf Cartel, Juan Manuel Jurado Zarzoza, was arrested Friday in Cancun, where tourists frolicking in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean share space with an important corridor for illegal drugs headed from South America to the US. The Army says that Mr. Jurado Zarzoza ordered extortions and kidnappings in the Cancun area.

The arrest follows a deadly shootout in Mexico's other iconic resort town the weekend before. In Acapulco, best known for its sprawling bay and daring cliff divers, 18 were killed after soldiers faced off against drug gangs.

Mexico's tourist industry has been on the defensive. The increased violence - nearly 11,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug gangs in late 2006 - has led to US advisories detailing "large firefights" in patches of the country.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/70105.html

[LanternWaste]

1. I had a beer with that guy when I lived in Cancun. Honest.

I had a beer with that guy when I lived in Cancun. Honest.

At the time, I had no idea who he was. Late one Sunday night my pal and I are finishing our last beer after a grueling tear-down, and the next thing I know, he's at the table with us. Pretty darned drunk too-- so I did what I could just to make sure everyone maintained. First guy I ever had a "head-butt" with, and it turns out to be local king-pin of a drug cartel.

Of course I had no idea until the next morning, but even then, all I got was "he's active in the local black market-- don't ever piss him off." Weird, weird, world. And I imagine that should I get any more specific with that story, I'd be dumber than I already am.

This was in '04-'05, so for all I know, he wasn't at the same level he is today. But still...

:shudder: