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 News from Around the Americas | December 2006 
Accused Mexican Drug Lord May Face US Death Penalty
 Reuters
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The alleged leader of Mexico's most infamous drug cartel pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to U.S. federal charges of murder, racketeering, drug trafficking and money laundering across the U.S.-Mexican border.
Javier Arellano Felix, 37, arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard in international waters in August, could face the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors said after a court hearing in San Diego. U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will decide at a later date whether to seek the death penalty.
The indictment unsealed on Wednesday accuses Arellano-Felix of being the principal organizer and top leader of the Tijuana-based Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO) since March 2002 and of using murder and bribes to import cocaine and marijuana into the United States.
He is also charged with ordering the January 2005 murder of a Tijuana deputy police chief and the beheading of three Rosarito Beach police officers in June 2006.
Another accused AFO member, Manuel Arturo Villareal-Heredia, faces almost identical charges. The two men are accused of importing more than 4,000 kg of cocaine and more than 900 kg of marijuana into the United States an intending to distribute it there.
Trial is expected next spring in San Diego.
Javier Arellano-Felix is the youngest of the Arellano-Felix brothers, who prosecutors say have controlled the drug cartel since the late 1980s. Brother Ramon was killed in a shoot-out with police in Mexico in 2002, Benjamin was arrested in Mexico in 2002 and Eduardo is at large.
Older brother Francisco Rafael was extradited to the United States from Mexico in September in a crackdown by then President Vicente Fox on cross-border trafficking.
Villareal-Heredia's lawyer told reporters that 90 percent of the crimes attributed to his client took place in Mexico and that the trial should also take place there.
"Almost all (the) witnesses are in Mexico," lawyer Kerry Steigerwalt said. "It's just horribly unfair. Absolutely, horribly unfair. You can't subpoena them. You can't compel them to testify."
Drug Cartel Suspects Plead Not Guilty
Allison Hoffman - Associated Press
San Diego - A man suspected of overseeing one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels and his top associate pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges detailing a criminal enterprise that included a hit on Tijuana's deputy police chief and the beheadings of three officers.
The new charges could make Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, 37, and his right-hand man Manuel Arturo Villarreal Heredia, 31, eligible for the death penalty if they are found guilty of crimes outlined in a seven-count indictment unsealed this week.
The two men, both looking pale and drawn, shuffled into the federal courtroom with hands shackled to their waists and ankles chained together. It was far different from the designer cruisewear and flip-flops the pair wore when they made their first court appearance in August, just days after their arrest aboard a sport fishing boat off La Paz, Mexico.
Not guilty pleas were entered on their behalf by their attorneys.
U.S. District Court Judge Jan M. Adler rejected requests by the defense to remove the shackles and ordered both men held without bail. A Jan. 2 hearing was scheduled.
The indictment charges the men with running a criminal enterprise, racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering, drug trafficking and money laundering. According to the filing, the pair directed the smuggling of cocaine and marijuana shipments from Mexico into the U.S. and oversaw ''enforcement operations'' -- threats and murders designed to reinforce the power of the cartel.
The indictment lists the 2005 murder of Tijuana's deputy police chief, a January shootout between the cartel and officers in Tijuana and the June beheadings of three officers in the Mexican resort town of Rosarito Beach as evidence of the criminal enterprise that authorities say extended into the United States.
Both men face charges for those crimes and broader racketeering charges in Mexican courts, according to the Mexican federal attorney general's office. Officials at Mexico's Foreign Relations Department and attorney general's office said Wednesday they had no immediate response to the new allegations or to the possibility of death sentences, which are illegal under Mexican law.
Villarreal's attorney Kerry Steigerwalt questioned whether his client, who holds dual citizenship and has been seeking extradition to Mexico, would be able to get a fair trial in the U.S.
''It is difficult for us to conduct a defense when we can't subpoena people in Mexico,'' Steigerwalt said outside court.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said the Mexican government had agreed to allow the U.S. to complete its prosecution of the pair before pursuing extradition requests. She said the criminal enterprise operated on both sides of the border and merited prosecution in U.S. courts.
''The U.S. has a big interest in this,'' said John Kirby, a former federal prosecutor who has worked on cartel cases. ''A lot of drugs were brought over, and a lot of people were killed in the United States.''
Arellano Felix and Villarreal have been held in a San Diego jail since the August raid aboard the yacht. The capture was the culmination of a manhunt triggered by a 2003 indictment charging Arellano Felix and 10 others of running the cartel, which authorities say smuggled tons of Colombian cocaine and Mexican marijuana into the United States.
The indictment also linked Arellano Felix to a 1996 killing in Coronado, near San Diego, and a 1992 shootout at a disco in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Arellano Felix pleaded not guilty to those charges, which would have carried up to 40 years in prison. That case will likely be stayed as prosecution proceeds on the new indictment.
Villarreal was not named in the 2003 indictment and had previously been held as a material witness after the boat raid.
Associated Press Writer Ioan Grillo contributed to this report from Mexico City. |
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