Mexico drug kingpin slain in fierce gun battle with military

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Los Angeles Times

By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

November 6, 2010
Reporting from Mexico City —

The Mexican drug kingpin known as "Tony Tormenta," a top leader of the powerful Gulf cartel, was killed Friday in a ferocious gun battle with military forces in the northern border state that had long been his tightly controlled home turf.

Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, alias Tony Tormenta or Tony the Storm, was killed along with three of his henchmen after hours of battle in the city of Matamoros, in Tamaulipas state just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, the Mexican government announced.

Two members of the Mexican navy's special forces were also killed, as was a Mexican reporter. It was unclear whether other civilians died.

Cardenas, 48, had acted as one of two top commanders of the Gulf cartel after his brother, Osiel, longtime leader of the group, was captured in 2003 and extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to 25 years in U.S. prison in February and ordered to forfeit $50 million in assets.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-druglord-20101106,0,454294.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fworld+%28L.A.+Times+-+World+News%29

[sam sarrha]

1. so... now the Mexican Government is in charge of the drug trade.. prices will go up

:nopity:

[Hulk]

2. I wouldn't bet on it.

Recognizing that Mexico has existed with corruption to the highest offices and to the lowest farm land for centuries, it is being challenged today by a courageous President and a brave and sacrificing police and military system...where a good deal of corruption is slowly being rooted out. It probably won't be the shining example of integrity anytime soon, but it is working in the right direction.

Every time I drive by a check point with those brave young soldiers, I salute them and hold them in the highest of respect. They are fighting a war on their own turf...unlike this nation that sends it's highly trained, and high tech military to suppress other nations and exploit their weak governments for our own corporate gain.

Every time I read about another king pin being taken down, I realize someone else will step into his position to carry on the illicit drug trade that has turned the border states into war zones, all for the addiction of this country and the corruption on this side of the border that permits the drug and arms trade to continue.

Before we are so quick to judge the Mexican government and military as a corrupt and puppet of the cartels, perhaps we should reflect on our own corruption of government and corporate/military corruption that we ignore on this side of the Rio.

Perhaps the price of drugs will go up...but that is our addiction and our motivation for continuing the slaughter on the other side of the border.

[COLGATE4]

3. K&R. It's too bad more people don't recognize the reality you

allude to and prefer to rely on old, outdated stereotypes of the 'lazy, corrupt Mexicans'.

[a la izquierda]

4. Nobody called Mexicans lazy and corrupt

The government is corrupt to the highest levels. It always, always has been. That government doesn't give a shit about the poor in Mexico, it gives a shit about the fact that someone else is getting rich off the habits of Americans.

[NBachers]

6. Thank you for that, Hulk

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Thanks for making the point.

kick

[sam sarrha]

8. this is what i was referring to.. >>Link>> i lived in El Paso, i have little faith in the mexican

government..

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126906809

Calderon has deployed 45,000 federal troops and police to combat the drug gangs. Yet in the midst of this crackdown, the Sinaloa cartel — the largest, oldest and richest in Mexico — appears to be flourishing.

May 19, 2010
On The Trail Of Mexico's Vicious Sinaloa Cartel
An NPR News investigation has found strong evidence of collusion between elements of the Mexican army and the Sinaloa cartel in the violent border city of Juarez.

[bluedigger]

5. Live by the gun, die by the gun.

[mindcough]

9. For the pot smokers out there

Always buy locally grown herbs, NEVER buy the dirty stuff that funds these cartels. It's higher quality anyhow. We really need to do all we can to defend these cartels since the Feds don't seem too interested in protecting us from this disastrous situation.

[camila flor]

10. the corruption here will not be solved by legalizing marijuna up there

I am for it, but the curruption is so deep and it existed WAY before the drug wars.

[bemildred]

11. Welcome to DU.

:hi:

[Tansy_Gold]

12. ¡Bienvenidos!

a nuestro DU

:hi:








Tansy Gold

[niceypoo]

15. They have turned to traditional mafia activitites besides drug smuggling

Particularly Los Zetas. They are funding their war by taking over local drug sales, taxing the population, extorting businesses, and kidnapping people for ransom.

In many cases, cartel raids are escorted by local police. Government officials, cab drivers, military commanders, etc, are given a choice by the cartels: 'Plato o plomo' which means 'Silver or lead,' join us or die. Some states are so overrun with narcos that the local population is entirely at the mercy of the cartels.

[Creative]

13. Smoke the best--Smoke your own.

[niceypoo]

14. This happened three weeks ago

The real story is the aftermath. Los Zetas (a drug cartel made up of police and military commandos) has used the instability caused by the death of Tony Tormenta (Tony the storm) to take small towns along the Tex/Mex border. Towns are literally emptied of all residents by the cartels who wage savage battles against each other all night long. Residents of these towns tell of people being dismembered alive in the town square and, all night firefights and burnt out homemade tanks and armored SUVs wrecked all over the place.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131517012">Refugees: No Return To Town Hit By Mexico Drug War