“Char” for Borderland Beat
This article was translated and reposted from LA SILLA ROTA
An album of photographs found in a house belonging to “Comandante Ardilla” revealed the close circle of “Los Zetas”.
Small in stature, with a cheeky smile, a challenging look, unkempt and unshaven, this is how Salvador Alfonso Martinez Escobedo, “El Comandante Ardilla,” the head of “Los Zetas” in the northeast of the country, was presented to the media by the Secretary of the Navy (Semar). It was October 8, 2012.
The capture was important, “El Comandante Ardilla” was one of the most bloodthirsty men in the cartel.
Authorities accused him of being responsible for the massacre of 72 migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, which was 10 years ago on August 23. They also accused him of the escape of 151 inmates from the Nuevo Laredo prison in December 2010 and 132 prisoners from the Piedras Negras jail in September 2012.
More important, however, was what authorities found in one of the houses they searched of Martinez Escobedo: a photo album.
The photographs were of “El Comandante Ardilla’s” wedding that had taken place in 2010, two years before his capture, when “Los Zetas” were at their criminal peak.
The celebration was attended by high-level members of the Zetas, members that the authorities had identified but did not know what they looked like physically and the few images they had of them were too old.
On October 10, 2012, two days after the arrest of “El Comandante Ardilla”, Cuartoscuro published a photograph that is part of the Zeta leader’s wedding album.
In it, “El Comandante Ardilla” is dressed in black with a faint mustache; next to him in a frayed white shirt and slightly obese, Heriberto Lazcano, “El Lazca”, then top leader of “Los Zetas”.
Both capos are accompanied by two women, Martinez Escobedo’s wife, dressed in white, and Lazcano’s partner, dressed in black.
Thus, the Navy was able to update its information on the first circle of “Los Zetas” and little by little, each of the wedding attendees were neutralized. Although several of them had already fallen.
That same month “El Lazca” was killed by elements of the Semar in Progreso, Coahuila, his body was stolen from the funeral home where the autopsy was being carried out, leaving as the only record a photo of the capo. He was buried in a cemetery in Pachuca, Hidalgo.
Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, “El Z-40,” successor to “El Lazca,” who also reportedly attended the wedding, was arrested in July 2013 in Anáhuac, Nuevo León, near the border with Tamaulipas.
Omar Treviño Morales, “El Z-42,” brother and successor of “El Z-40,” was apprehended on March 4, 2015 in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León. He was also at the religious celebration.
Z-40 and Z-42
Carlos Alberto Oliva Castillo, “La Rana”, was arrested in October 2011 in Saltillo, Coahuila. Authorities identified him as one of the masterminds of the attack on the Casino Royale in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, on August 25, 2011, where 52 people died. He was present at the nuptials.
Jorge Luis de la Peña Brizuela, “El Pompín”, identified as the plaza leader of “Los Zetas” in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, was killed in August 2012. He attended the wedding.
Mauricio Guízar Cárdenas, “El Amarillo”, was arrested in September 2012, he was the head of “Los Zetas” in Tabasco, Veracruz, Chiapas, Campeche and Quintana Roo. He was one of the guests of “El Comandante Ardilla”.
El Rana and El Amarillo
Fernando Galaviz, “El Pinky,” was arrested in March 2013 in Coahuila. Jorge Santos Salazar, “El Comandante Gallo,” killed in January 2012. Both attended the celebration.
Francisco Medina Mejía, alias “El Quemado”, killed in April 2012, by members of the Army in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, is said to be another of the masterminds of the attack on the Casino Royale. He was present at the wedding.
Today, “Los Zetas” are in decline, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Fractured into two enemy cells, they survive through the Northeast Cartel and “Los Zetas Vieja Escuela.
According to a document from the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), “Los Zetas” maintains a presence only in Tamaulipas. Although it is known that their tentacles still reach states such as Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Veracruz and San Luis Potosi.