Pubdate: Tue, 26 Oct 2010
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/townhall/ci_14227323
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Daniel Borunda

KIDNAPPED MAN ADMITS CARTEL TIES IN WEB VIDEO

The kidnapped brother of the former Chihuahua attorney general 
appeared in an Internet video on Monday confessing ties to the Juarez 
drug cartel.

Gunmen kidnapped Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez, a lawyer and brother of 
former Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez, on Thursday in 
Chihuahua City.

On Monday, a video appeared on the Internet showing Mario Gonzalez 
handcuffed, sitting in a chair, and surrounded by five men dressed in 
desert camouflage, wearing black ski masks and holding assault rifles.

At gunpoint, he answers a list of questions asked by a man 
off-camera. The group holding Mario Gonzalez is not identified in the 
video and the authenticity of his answers is unknown.

In the nearly 10-minute video, Mario Gonzalez said that he and his 
sister provided protection for La Linea, or the Juarez drug cartel. 
He also claimed Patricia Gonzalez ordered several murders, including 
that of Juarez newspaper reporter Armando Rodriguez.

Patricia Gonzalez, who stepped down earlier this month with the 
arrival of the new governor's administration, had previously denied 
such allegations.

The video interrogator also asked Mario Gonzalez about several other 
homicides, including a massacre in the town of Creel, Chihuahua. For 
each question, he answered that La Linea was responsible.

When asked about the femicides, or the women's murders in Juarez and 
Chihuahua City, Gonzalez said the women were slain by reputed kingpin 
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and other leaders in the Juarez drug cartel.

The Juarez cartel has been battling the Sinaloa cartel in a war that 
has left more than 6,700 dead in Juarez since 2008. Mexican drug 
cartels regularly use propaganda via the Internet, graffiti on walls 
and banners displayed in public.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart