As Mexican and US officials hail the killing of top drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, many are fearing further violence in the struggle to replace him.
Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed in a shoot-out with the navy south of Mexico City late on Wednesday, along with six cartel members.
The killing gave a boost to Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s three-year military clampdown on drug gangs, which has been accompanied by a spike in violence.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“We congratulate the Mexican navy and the Mexican government on a well-executed operation that was a significant blow against drug cartels in the country,” US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in Washington.
The US, the main market for drugs trafficked through Mexico, is fully behind Calderon’s crackdown, which involves some 50,000 security forces, and has promised more than US$1 billion in anti-drug aid to Mexico.
Beltran Leyva, accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and heroin and billions of dollars of cash through the US, was Mexico’s third most wanted man, with a US$1.5 million reward on offer for information leading to his capture.
Calderon called the navy raid in which he was killed “an important achievement for the government and people of Mexico.”
But many warned that the high-profile killing could provoke further turf wars.
“We can’t rule out the possibility of in-fighting, until a new line of command is defined,” Attorney General Arturo Chavez said on Thursday.
Beltran Leyva was one of five brothers who split from the country’s most powerful Sinaloa Cartel several years ago and aligned themselves with previous competitors from other gangs in a bid to counteract their influence.
“In all likelihood the remnants of the Beltran Leyva organization will regroup and seek to defend its territory and trafficking routes from the Sinaloa cartel,” Eric Olson, of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said.
Many said the Sinaloa cartel would gain from Beltran Leyva’s death.
“This development will only strengthen the Sinaloa position within the national and international markets,” said Edgardo Buscaglia, a professor at Mexico’s ITAM university and an advisor to the UN.
“Organized crime should be controlled not just by capturing the bosses but also by dismantling the economic and corruption networks that allow the organizations to flourish,” Buscaglia said.
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