MEXICO CITY – The leader of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel was captured in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, National Security Commissioner Renato Sales said.Francisco Javier Hernandez Garcia, who was on the government’s list of the 122 most-wanted criminals in Mexico, was arrested last Saturday, Sales said in a statement.
“The lines of investigation indicate that after the arrest of Hector Beltran Leyva on Oct. 1, 2014, Hernandez Garcia took command of the criminal organization,” Sales said.
Hernandez Garcia was arrested in the city of Guasave during an operation staged by the army and the Federal Police.
Francisco Javier Martinez Coronado, suspected of being an associate of the cartel leader, was also arrested.
The arrest of the 47-year-old Hernandez Garcia raises to 99 the number of most-wanted criminals captured by the government, Sales said.
The Beltran Leyva cartel arose as a splinter group of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Mexico’s oldest and most powerful drug trafficking organization, in 2008.
The criminal organization was led by Arturo Beltran Leyva, who died in a shootout with marines at a luxury condo in Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos state, on Dec. 16, 2009.
Two weeks after Arturo was killed, Carlos Beltran Leyva was arrested in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, where he was going by the alias of Carlos Gamez.
Hector Beltran Leyva took over control of the cartel after Arturo’s death, but he had to battle a rival faction led by Edgar Valdez Villarreal for control of the organization.
Valdez Villarreal, known as “La Barbie,” was arrested by the Federal Police on Aug. 30, 2010, and Hector Beltran Leyva was arrested just over four years later.
The Beltran Leyva organization formed alliances with other cartels, including the Gulf cartel and Los Zetas, that were battling the Sinaloa cartel.
Since 2010, the Beltran Leyva organization has been weakened by the arrests and killings of many prominent members.
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