Pubdate: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2005 The Dallas Morning News Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Author: Laurence Iliff and Alfredo Corchado, The Dallas Morning News Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Mexico Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.) AGENTS HELD IN TAPED KILLING Prosecutor Says Officials Working for Traffickers Targeted Rival Cartel Corrupt federal agents working for drug traffickers are the primary authors of a shocking video in which four enforcers for a rival cartel are interrogated and one is shot in the head, a top Mexican prosecutor said Thursday. Eight federal agents and two civilians are in custody, accused of kidnapping and torturing the Nuevo Laredo-based Zetas, allies of the Gulf cartel, said Deputy Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos. The eight are members of the elite Federal Investigative Agency, modeled on the FBI. Three more agents are considered fugitives, he added, and seven civilians are still at large. The video of the interrogation and shooting was made public Thursday by The Dallas Morning News, prompting Mr. Vasconcelos to hold a news conference to respond to the graphic revelations. "This video has resulted in a series of important consequences," said Mr. Vasconcelos, adding that his office has had a copy of it for several months. The deputy attorney general's account differs from that of two other investigators who have told The News that while some AFI agents could have been involved, the operation was carried out mainly by either former or current military. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the two investigators stood by their account on Thursday. One declined to comment further. The other said, "The government is trying to underplay the role of the military." Mr. Vasconcelos said the unseen men on the tape who are carrying out the interrogation are federal agents, apparently directed by unseen drug traffickers. An investigation by Mr. Vasconcelos' organized-crime unit determined the agents kidnapped the four Zetas, held at least some of them in Acapulco, and may have made the tape at the beach resort. Possible Motive Acapulco has become a new staging area for a raging rivalry between the Zetas, the enforcement arm of the Nuevo Laredo-based Gulf Cartel and their Sinaloa Cartel counterparts. Mr. Vasconcelos said the kidnapping of the four Zetas shown on the videotape was possibly an act of revenge by a reputed Sinaloa cartel lieutenant, or Edgar Valdes Villareal, a U.S. citizen known as "La Barbie." Zeta members had apparently captured "La Barbie's" brother, identified in the video only as "Miguel." An interrogator on the video asks one of the Zetas "why did you kidnap Miguel, my brother?" Mr. Vasconcelos said the voice does not appear to be that of Mr. Valdes (La Barbie) because of the accent. But he may have been present and directing the questions through the agents, he said. Mr. Vasconcelos said one motive for the video could have been an attempt at misinformation. By forcing the Zetas to confess to a series of crimes, including the assassination of a radio reporter and the Nuevo Laredo police chief, the Sinaloa cartel is trying to bring more government heat to their rivals, he said. In that sense, the video is staged and serves as a kind of publicity stunt to shift public opinion, he said. For example, the interrogations imply corruption on the part of former Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha or his deputies, but are actually a form of payback for Mr. Macedo's honestly and his unprecedented attack on the drug cartels, Mr. Vasconcelos said. "We do not have a lot of confidence in this video because of the way it was made," said Mr. Vasconcelos. Men are missing Likewise, the Zetas in the video imply that the slain radio reporter, Guadalupe "Lupita" Garcia Escamilla had been working with them but wanted out and therefore was killed. Ms. Escamilla's family has denied her involvement with the drug cartel. Mr. Vasconcelos said his office has found no evidence to imply that the reporter had been corrupted by the Gulf cartel. In October, The News published an lengthy report into the killing of Ms. Garcia and quoted Rogelio Garcia Fernandez, then the assistant attorney general in the state of Tamaulipas as saying, "Her activities and subsequent death could be tied to organized crime. Perhaps she worked for members of organized crime." And a media executive told The News that she tried to manipulate local reports on the cartel. Mr. Vasconcelos said authorities have not found the body of the slain Zeta shown in the video nor the other three men, either alive or dead. Two of them are former Army soldiers, he added. Reactions Mr. Vasconcelos' news conference came after the Mexican media had widely reported the story on morning TV and radio newscasts and newspaper web sites. Many offered links to Dallas' WFAA Web site, which carried excerpts of the video. During his morning news briefing, presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar was questioned about the video and said that a government investigation was under way. Mr. Vasconcelos said he knew of no similar videos captured by police or in the hands of reporters but would not be surprised if something similar surfaces in the future. Likewise, the U.S. government reacted to the video Thursday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reviewed the DVD but has not independently authenticated it, said spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback. "If it is real, it could be a troubling sign that violence is continuing in the region," she said. "And we have said in the past that we do have concerns about how corruption continues to play a role in facilitating all kinds of smuggling. But we believe it's important to continue to work with the government of Mexico to attack the organizations that are responsible for both the smuggling and the continued violence." 'Spillage of Violence' U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies are working in partnership, she noted, on Operation Black Jack, an ICE-led initiative designed to attack the Zetas and other smuggling organizations and drug cartel enforcers that operate in the Laredo/Nuevo Laredo area. In Laredo, Tom Sanchez, spokesman for the Webb County Sheriff's Department, declined to comment specifically about information in the DVD, noting that the information is "very law-enforcement sensitive." Mr. Sanchez stressed, however, that there was plenty of other evidence to demonstrate level of violence in Nuevo Laredo and how it has crossed the border. "Two weeks after Sheriff [Rick] Flores took office in January, we had a double homicide committed by gang members who had contracted with the drug cartel," Mr. Sanchez said. "The murder of another man at a Laredo car dealership in June has been definitely tied to the cartel. "Whatever may or may not be seen on that video, we already have plenty of proof of the spillage of violence across the border," he said. Mr. Sanchez expressed amazement that the DVD had been sent to news media outlets. "It's like something al-Qaeda would do," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake