Post date: Dec 10, 2010 5:47:33 PM
Mexican national security chief, Alejandro Poire, announces possible killing of leader of "La Familia" cartel from Michoacan.
ROAD MORELIA-SALAMANCA, MICHOACAN STATE, MEXICO (DECEMBER 9, 2010) REUTERS - Roads into Michoacan's city of Morelia remain blocked on Thursday night as vehicles blazed - hijacked and set alight by suspected drug traffickers.
Bus services into the region have been suspended and hundreds of federal agents deployed in a bid to
control what appeared to be co-ordinated attacks.The violence came as Mexican security forces said they may have killed a leader of the powerful La Familia drug cartel.
National security chief Alejandro Poire said a leader of La Familia cartel was presumed dead in one of many clashes between drug gang members and authorities in the western state of Michoacan.
Poire indicated in an interview that cartel leader Nazario "The Craziest One" Moreno was among those dead, although he said he waiting for confirmation.
Moreno is believed to be the top leader of La Familia, a drug gang that uses pseudo-religious philosophy to justify the grisly murders of rivals and keep its own traffickers from abusing drugs.
"The way in which these criminal groups have tried to protect their flight during today and yesterday's operations suggest that members of the highest ranks from 'La Familia Michoacana' have been located and are being closely followed. Besides this, preliminary information, not yet confirmed, indicates that the criminal organization has had significant casualties, among them, the possible death of one of those criminal leaders. It's appropriate to remember that this organization has hounded inhabitants of Michoacan since the beginning of the decade," Poire said.
If Moreno's death is confirmed, he will be the second drug kingpin to be eliminated in just over a month, after the killing of the Gulf cartel's Ezequiel "Tony Tormenta" Cardenas on Nov. 5.
La Familia was hit last year by the arrests of two top leaders and is fighting the Zetas and the Beltran Leyva cartel
for control of Michoacan's coast, where traffickers receive illegal shipments of chemicals to make methamphetamines.
Mexican authorities offered a 30 million pesos ($2.4 million) reward for Moreno and three more La Familia members.
More than 31,000 people have been killed since Calderon launched his military campaign against drug cartels when he took office in 2006.