Deibert - In the shadow of Saint Death: the Gulf Cartel and the price of Americas drug war in Mexico

In the Shadow of Saint Death

The Gulf Cartel and the Price of Americas Drug War in Mexico

Michael Deibert

Copyright 2014 by Michael Deibert

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Lyons Press is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Project Editor: Lauren Brancato

Layout Artist: Mary Ballachino

Map: Alena Joy Pearce Morris Book Publishing, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN 978-1-4930-1064-6

To the hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and other countries who lost their lives as their governments, at the demand of the United States, prosecuted a war that should have never been fought

To all in those countries who have worked to give justice to the victims

To all in those countries who worked to give their nations functioning institutions of governance, an endeavor which, in the face of the violence, money, corruption, and impunity arrayed against them, represented nothing short of a revolutionary act

And in memory of Sebastian Montiel Quezada, the Mexican

The Mexicans indifference toward death is fostered by his indifference toward life. He views not only death but also life as non transcendent.... We kill because lifeour own or anothersis of no value. Life and death are inseparable, and when the former lacks meaning, the latter becomes equally meaningless. Mexican death is the mirror of Mexican life. And the Mexican shuts himself away and ignores both of them.

Octavio Paz, El Laberinto de la Soledad

You can have everything. But it has a price.

Former hitman for Los Zetas drug cartel

Contents

Acknowledgments

The story of the relationship between Mexico and the United States, and the history and policies that have contributed to it, is a long and complicated one, of which the book you hold in your hands is but one episode. Nevertheless, in exploring this aspect of Mexican history, a number of individuals proved to be of invaluable assistance.

In Mexico itself, Franc Contreras, Luis Oscar Hinojos Aguirre, Javier Esteban Hernndez Valencia, Gustavo Pacheco, Michael Weissenstein, Katrin Mader, and Sonja Wolf all contributed to my ability to write this account, as did a great number of people who, because of concerns about their safety with the situation as it is in Mexico today, will have to remain nameless. To those people, never doubt, however, that I am forever in your debt for all that you were willing to show me and share with me.

On the US side of the Rio Grande, Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera of the University of Texas at Brownsville, Mark Clark of the Galeria 409, and Virginia Ramos, who first strolled with me across the bridge into Matamoros years ago, helped me decode the intricacies of life on both sides of the border. The journalists of the Rio Grande Valley, Marcia Caltabiano-Ponce, Lynn Brezosky, and Ildefonso Ortiz, who knows more about organized crime in the area than anyone I know and who I hope one day will write his own book, provided context and contacts that proved invaluable.

Thanks very much to both my agent, Adriann Ranta, and my editor, Jon Sternfeld, for believing in the value of this endeavor.

In Miami, where much of this book was written, I would like to thank Anna Edgerton, Anna Blash, Daniela Guzman Pea, Natasha Del Toro, Noelle Thard, and Kym Quidiello for their friendship, and further afield, Hilary Wallis, Anastasia Kitova, Justin Cappiello, Ben Fountain, Meghan Feeks, Sutton Stokes, Gerry Hadden, Philip Schnell, Erin Mobekk, and Pedro Rodriguez.

I thank my family, Benjamin Deibert, Christopher Deibert, Caleb Deibert, Elizabeth Deibert, and James Breon, for seeing me along this road.

And I remember, in recent years, los que se fueron: Jann Deibert, Joseph Deibert, Leah Breon, Sebastian Quezada, and Philippe Allouard.

Because this is a book about organized crime, drug trafficking, violence, and failed policies, it does not focus on the many wonderful aspects of Mexico and its culture. The warmth of Mexicos people, their unsurpassed work ethic, their devotion to family, their subtle, seductive cuisine, and their incredibly deep and diverse traditions of art, music, and literature are all touched upon, but there is a universe of those to be explored beyond the pages of this book, and I hope that readers will do so.

To the people who live in the affected communities in Mexico who cant just pack up and leave or walk back across the bridge to El Norte like I can, to those who dare still speak out, to the poor people who pile onto buses and on the tops of trains to get from places such as El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and elsewhere, heading to Mexicos northern border and, once there (and en route), face killers with weapons in their hands and an idiotic wall (both real and metaphorical) constructed by my own country: You are braver than I could ever be.

Michael Deibert

Miami, Florida

June 2014

Note on Names

Following the Spanish custom, the surnames of most of the protagonists in this book are first presented containing both the paternal and maternal family names, thereafter using only the protagonists first name and paternal surname.

Acronyms

AFIAgencia Federal de Investigacin (Federal Investigation Agency)

CCSPJPConsejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Pblica y la Justicia Penal (Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice)

CEDHComisin Estatal de los Derechos Humanos (State Commission for Human Rights)

CEMConferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (Mexican Episcopal Conference)

CISENCentro de Investigacin y Seguridad Nacional (Center for Research and National Security)

CJNGCrtel de Jalisco Nueva Generacan

CNDHComisin Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (National Human Rights Commission)

DFSDireccin Federal de Seguridad (Federal Security Directorate)

FEVIMTRAFiscala Especial para los Delitos de Violencia contra las Mujeres y Trata de Personas (Special Prosecutor for Crimes of Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking)

GAFEGrupo Aeromvil de Fuerzas Especiales (Special Forces Airmobile Group)

ICEUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement

INCDInstituto Nacional para el Combate a las Drogas (National Institute to Combat Drugs)

INEGIInstituto Nacional de Estadstica y Geografa (National Institute of Statistics and Geography)

PANPartido Accin Nacional (National Action Party)

PFPolica Federal (Federal Police)

PFMPolica Federal Ministerial (Federal Ministerial Police)

PFPPolica Federal Preventiva (Federal Preventive Police)

PJFPolica Judicial Federal (Federal Judicial Police)

PRDPartido de la Revolucin Democrtica (Party of the Democratic Revolution)

PRIPartido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party)

SAGARPASecretara de Agricultura, Ganadera, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentacin (Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food)

SEDENASecretara de la Defensa Nacional (Secretariat of National Defense)

SIEDOSubprocuradura de Investigacin Especializada en Delincuencia Organizada (Assistant Attorney Generals Office for Special Investigations on Organized Crime)