AP Freedom of Information Request Nets List of Mexico's Top Arrested Traffickers E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
go to original December 20, 2013

MEXICO CITY — Mexican prosecutors have revealed the names of 69 top drug traffickers arrested or killed in the last year from a group of 122 most wanted capos that was drawn up at the start of President Enrique Pena Nieto's term a year ago.

The government had previously refused to say who was on the list, but provided some details to The Associated Press after the news organization filed a freedom of information request. The files name 60 drug cartel leaders who were captured since December 2012 and nine others killed by authorities. Prosecutors refused to identify the 53 capos still at large, saying they don't want to tip off the suspects.

The files show that the hyper-violent Zetas cartel was the most targeted gang, with 23 leaders arrested and four killed in the 12 month period. The best-known name on the list is top Zeta's leader Miguel Trevino Morales, who was arrested in July.

For an administration that has gone out of its way to downplay its pursuit of specific cartels and their leaders after the previous government was accused of provoking more violence with its head on attack on the drug gangs, the documents provide a rare look at what continues to be a full-bodied assault on organized crime.

Read the rest at U.S. News & World Report

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