Double blow to Mexico's Zetas? Top man Lazcano reportedly killed, another captured
The Mexican Navy reports there are 'strong indications' that marines killed Zetas top man Heriberto Lazcano. Could this mean the end for the Zetas, or trigger more violence?
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News of Lazcano's possible death came the same day as the Mexican Navy, in a separate incident, announced the capture of Salvador Alfonso Martinez Escobedo, a regional Zetas leader known as "The Squirrel," in the city of Nuevo Laredo along the US-Mexican border, reports CNN. Mr. Martinez is best known in the US for the alleged killing of American David Hartley in 2010 on Falcon Lake, located south of Nuevo Laredo along the border, but he is notorious in Mexico for his alleged role in hundreds of other murders, including the 2010 mass execution of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas.
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Europe Editor
Arthur Bright is the Europe Editor at The Christian Science Monitor. He has worked for the Monitor in various capacities since 2004, including as the Online News Editor and a regular contributor to the Monitor's Terrorism & Security blog. He is also a licensed Massachusetts attorney.
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Mr. Hartley and his wife were jet-skiing on Falcon Lake in September 2010 when they encountered several boats with armed men aboard who opened fire on the couple. Hartley was shot in the head, but his wife escaped to the Texas side of the lake. Mexican and US police suspect that the Hartleys encountered a drug deal gone bad.
Although Martinez was not named a suspect by the US officials investigating Hartley's murder, Mexico announced yesterday that he was suspected of involvement in the murder of Mexico's lead investigator on the Hartley case. The Mexican Navy did not further explain Martinez's connection to the Hartley murder, but a US sheriff noted to CNN that Martinez was in charge of the region for the Zetas.
"Based on the information I have, he may have been the one responsible for that area, but not the one responsible for the actual killing," said Sigifredo Gonzalez, sheriff of Zapata County, Texas.
While the capture of Martinez and the alleged killing of Lazcano will likely move ahead those cases the two men were involved in, they do not necessarily mean that the Zetas are cowed. Mr. Grillo, discussing the capture of Gulf cartel leader and Zetas cofounder Osiel Cárdenas, noted hypothetically that if Lazcano was taken off the board, it might trigger an outbreak of violence among the Zetas, and will not diminish the gang's reputation.
When leaders such as Osiel Cárdenas are taken out, their organizations have only become more violent, as rival lieutenants fight to become top dog. Groups such as the Zetas and Familia [Michoacana] have also become powerful because of their brand names rather than the reputation of their capos. Even if Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano, the Executioner, is arrested, the Zetas will likely continue as a fearsome militia.
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