By Buggs for Borderland Beat
Segment 3
In the last segment we touched a little on Alfredo Beltran Leyva El Mochomo and Sergio Enrique Villarreal Barragán El Grande, who were both extradited to the US. Both have a lot of knowledge about corruption with the Mexican government and could sink Genaro Garcia Luna during his trial if they chose to testify against him. It is believed that El Grande is possibly a protected witness and most likely will testify in the trial of Garcia Luna. Today we will talk about another high-level capo, La Barbie.
Edgar Valdez Villarreal La Barbie is a US citizen and was a high-ranking lieutenant of the once powerful criminal cartel, the Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO). Valdez was born and raised in Laredo, Texas and his nickname La Barbie was derived due to his white skin, blue eyes and facial features. La Barbie was the leader of the security detail of Arturo Beltran Leyva.
La Barbie managed to corrupt high level officials of the government of former President Felipe Calderón who are accused of having links with the Sinaloa Cartel and the Beltrán Leyva Organization. It was revealed though Mexican Journalist Anabel Hernandez that La Barbie was an informant for the DEA and the FBI in the United States while at the same time he was a participant in the corruption of Calderón. In essence, La Barbie was described in US court documents as a “two-sided coin with the same face.”
He was a collaborator with officials of the Government of Felipe Calderón, who are alleged of providing confidential information to the Sinaloa Cartel and BLO. The information leaked to organize crime included the identities, photographs and locations of DEA agents who were working undercover in numerous parts of the Mexican territory, thus putting their lives at risk.
In 2009 the federal Mexican government of Felipe Calderon turned against the BLO and started to dismantle the organization. Mexican police raided his rental homes where they located grenades, automatic weapons and police uniforms. In June of 2010 La Barbie was indicted in a US court on charges of trafficking thousands of kilos of cocaine from Mexico into the US. It is believed he was trafficking about one ton of cocaine per month.
On August 30, 2010, La Barbie was arrested by Mexican Federal Police near Mexico City. On September 30, 2015, he was extradited to the USA. In June of 2018 he was sentenced to 49 years in a US federal prison. In November of 2022 Borderland Beat was the first to report that La Barbie was no longer listed in Federal prison custody. The website of the Federal Bureau of Prisons listed him as “not in BOP custody.”
There was speculation that perhaps he was set free. I am certain that is not the case. La Barbie is most likely housed in an undisclosed facility and with full protection, as he will most likely play a central role in the trial against Garcia Luna. The US government has a vested interest in ensuring that nothing happens to their star witness.
Borderland Beat has known for years of the corruption between these cartels and the Mexican government, but not until his arrest by Mexican authorities, that he was ready to talk. In November of 2012, La Barbie wrote a letter.
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THE LETTER
Below is the full text of the letter delivered on November 27 2012 to Grupo Reforma (diarios El Norte, Reforma, Mural) and subsequently made public. The letter was also sent to Journalist Anabel Hernandez.
“I want to state, first, that I did not agree to take part in the protected witness program. Likewise, I categorically deny the accusations and statements made by the arresting governmental agencies regarding the manner in which my detention was carried out and that the truth of the facts is the following:
My arrest was the result of a political persecution by (president) C. Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. Calderon initiated an attack against me, because I refused to form part of the agreement that Mr. Calderón Hinojosa wanted to have with all the organized crime groups. He personally held several meetings, to have talks with various groups of organized crime.
Subsequently, numerous meetings were held through General Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro, who met by order of the President and Juan Camilo Mouriño, with two of the leaders of the Familia Michoacana. Later, the general also met in Matamoros with Heriberto Lazcano El Lazca and Miguel Ángel Treviño El Z-40 (leaders of Los Zetas). Sometime later, Acosta Chaparro and Mouriño met with Arturo Beltrán Leyva, El Barbas, (leaders of the Belytran Leyva Organization) and also met with El Chapo Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel.
Calderón wanted to forge agreements with all the cartels: Los Zetas cartel, the Gulf cartel, with me, the Juárez cartel, with Vicente, and Mayo and Chapo of the Sinaloa Cartel. Since he did not receive a response from me and because I did not want to have collaborations with any other criminal groups, Calderon initiated a directed persecution against me. He ordered several searches of my homes without a legal warrant. They stole money, jewelry, cars, as well as numerous other belongings.
Genaro García Luna, head of the Federal Public Security Secretariat (SSP) since at least 2002, first in the AFI and then in the PFP, received money from me in various occasions as a result of drug trafficking and having knowledge it was coming from organized crime. A select group that included Armando Espinosa de Benito, who was collaborating with the DEA and provided me sensitive information. Other government officials that received money from me were Luis Cárdenas Palomino, Edgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, Francisco Javier Garza Palacios (PF Colombia), Igor Labastida Calderón, Facundo Rosas Rosas, Ramón Eduardo Pequeño García and Gerardo Garay Cadena.
Among them, they claim that they were tasked in “arresting me in some operation,” but in reality, they had the instructions to kill me. At the time of my arrest, which was carried out at my home as reported by the media, I was alone. They say that I was arrested without firing a single gunshot on that day, but the truth was that there was gunfire. A federal policeman who was the same one who took me in custody, urged me to run so that he could shoot me, and be able to claim that he was repelling an attack. They intended to kill me just like they did to Arón Arturo Gines Becerril. Gines Becerril was killed in the vicinity of the Perisur Shopping Center. He was shot nemrous times in the back on the same day I was arrested.
Everything was covered up by the PF. It is worth mentioning that despite the background of Genaro García Luna, who is looking at numerous criminal charges and of which the American government is already aware of, was directly involved. They even have knowledge of other issues that were talked about during the review of the Mérida Initiative. I already have access to the most recent testimony of the collaboration of protected witness Mateo (Sergio Villarreal) that is being held by President Felipe Calderón without criminal charges being brought against him (prior to his extradition).
It should be noted that in all the arrests made by the Federal Police, nothing is confiscated as evidence, everything is stolen (money, watches, vehicles, drugs, etc.). It is necessary to point out that both the Mexican Army and the Secretary of the Navy tend to be more honest. They detain who they are supposed to and make them available to the proper authorities. I could had easily done what they do, but they, the Mexican governmental public officials I mentioned, are also part of the criminal structure of this country.”
Signed:
EDGAR VALDEZ VILLARREAL
Sources: Grupo Reforma, Journalist Anabel Hernandez and US court documents.