MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexico has captured a leader of the country’s Gulf Cartel in one of the highest-profile arrests in months in President Felipe Calderon’s war on drug gangs.
Mario Cardenas, alias “Fatso,” was captured in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas on Monday by Mexican marines. He was paraded in front of the media in Mexico City today.
“The capture was carried out following an infantry operation yesterday in Altamira, Tamaulipas, as (Cardenas) brandished a large weapon in the entrance of a building,” Navy spokesman Vice Admiral Jose Luis Vergarathe said.
The Gulf Cartel’s power has waned in recent years in a feud with Mexico’s most brutal gang, the Zetas, which began life providing protection to the cartel’s operations in northeastern Mexico.
