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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2007 
Garza: Calderon Confronts Drug Cartels Head-On
 PVNN
| | Soldiers patrol a main boulevard in the border city of Reynosa in the state of Tamaulipas December 8, 2007. Mexican President Felipe Calderon's year-long army crackdown on drug gangs along the border and throughout much of Mexico has scored clear successes, disrupting smuggling routes and even forcing up the price of cocaine on U.S. Streets. But in Rio Bravo, the cartel gunmen are still so bold that they shot dead a well-known local politician in broad daylight outside his family's restaurant last month. The government sent almost 3,000 troops and federal police to this area southeast of McAllen, Texas after the killing of Juan Antonio Guajardo, a former federal lawmaker who accused local state politicians of being on the payroll of the infamous Gulf Cartel. (Reuters/Tomas Bravo) |
Statement made by Ambassador Antonio O. Garza in Mexico City:
"I congratulate President Calderon and the Mexican government on the December 11th arrests of Marco Antonio Ramirez del Rio, number three in the Gulf Cartel, and two associates, which once more demonstrate the Calderon administration's firm determination to confront the drug cartels head-on.
Marco Antonio Ramirez del Rio, AKA Tony la Palma, Mario Rafael Morales and Dario Tristan Mendez were arrested by the Mexican Army in a security operation in Tampico, Tamaulipas. Ramirez del Rio is considered one of the bosses of the Gulf Cartel, and is believed to control the cartel's operations in the Mexican states of San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Queretero, Hildalgo and Mexico.
In addition, it is believed that Ramirez del Rio and his associates were behind the ambush of Mexican Army troops in Tampico last month. When arrested, Ramirez del Rio and his lieutenants were in possession of more than a kilogram of cocaine, two assault rifles and other weapons.
This arrest is yet another indication that the Calderon administration's determined campaign against narco-traffickers and organized crime in Mexico is going strong and showing definite results. The United States benefits, as does Mexico, from taking these criminals off the streets. We will continue to work ever more closely with our Mexican government and law enforcement partners in the months and years to come, until the streets are again safe for our children." |
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