Thursday, April 3, 2025

Captured cartel boss believed behind Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí violence

The suspected leader of the Northeast Cartel, one of 15 criminal groups identified as being behind the wave of violence sweeping across Mexico, was arrested yesterday in Nuevo León.

The Tamaulipas Attorney General’s office (PGJE) said in a statement that investigative police executed an arrest warrant against Juan Alfonso N. during an operation conducted with federal agents.

In a separate statement, the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) said the suspect was apprehended in the municipality of Guadalupe, part of the Monterrey metropolitan area.

The suspected capo, also known as “Gafe” and “Chucho,” is accused of extortion and criminal association.

Police seized the car Juan Alfonso was traveling in and authorities have also opened an investigation into a probable violation of the Federal Firearms Law.

The suspect is believed to be behind a lot of the violent crime in the states of Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí.

The PGJE was offering a reward of 2 million pesos (US $102,000) for information leading to Juan Alfonso’s arrest.

He is the sixth person on the Tamaulipas government’s most-wanted list who has been captured this year.

The PGJE said that Juan Alonso would face a control judge in Tamaulipas who “will define his legal situation.”

The Northeast Cartel he allegedly headed is a splinter cell of the Zetas drug cartel, according to InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime in Latin America.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum stands at the presidential podium looking out at an audience off-camera with her fist raised and her mouth open as if cheering. Behind her is a wall with the words in Spanish: Plan Mexico, Strenghtening the Economy and Well-Being, Mexico City April 3, 2025.

Sheinbaum unveils an even more ambitious version of her transformative Plan México

3
Sheinbaum said the projects she announced as part of Plan México will bring about more well-paid employment, less poverty and inequality, greater investment and production and more innovation.
A clear-cut strip of land cuts through the jungle along the Maya Train route in Yucatán

Government promises restoration plan for Maya Train environmental damage

1
Government officials said the track's builders will be responsible for funding a restoration effort that includes reforestation and improving natural migration corridors.
Cans of Cororna Extra beer lying on a bed of large ice cubes

Trump announces new US tariffs on Mexican… beer

15
Mexico didn't end up on Donald Trump's "liberation day" list of enemy countries, although the U.S. did impose tariffs on a surprising Mexican item: beer in cans.