Los Negros

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Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez
Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez

Los Negros are a narco-military unit formed by the Sinaloa Cartel to counter the operations of the Gulf Cartel's Los Zetas.[1][2][3] Los Negros, also known as the Beltran Group, is lead by Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal and overseen by the brothers, Arturo Beltran Leyva and Hector Beltran Leyva.[4][2] Los Negros have been known to employ gangs such as Mexican Mafia and MS-13 to carry out murders and other illegal activities.[5] Los Negros has been reported as recruiting from their rival group Los Zetas.[6] The group is currently involved in fighting in the Nuevo Laredo region for control of the drug trafficking corridor.[2]

[edit] Nuevo Laredo

Nuevo Laredo has been at the center of a war between the Gulf Cartel's Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel's Los Negros.[1][3] Following the 2003 arrest of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas, it is believed the Sinaloa Cartel moved 200 men into the region to battle the Gulf Cartel for control.[6][4] The Nuevo Laredo region is an important drug trafficking corridor as 40% of all Mexican exports, a total of 9,000 trucks, pass through the region into the United States.[6]

Following the 2002 assassination of journalist Robert Javier Mora Garcia from El Manana newspaper, much of the local media has been silenced over the fighting.[6] The cartels have begun to use the media to send messages and wage a media war. In 2008, Edgar Valdez took out an ad in the local paper accusing Los Zetas of being "narco-kidnappers" and purchasing protection from state officials and the attorney generals office.[3]

The drug war between the Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels had spread to neighboring Acapulco when a dozen or so members of Los Zetas attempted to kidnap Sinaloa Cartel members. Five of the Zetas were instead captured and taken to a safe house to be beaten, videotaped and murdered.[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Mallory, Stephen L (2007). Understanding Organized Crime (in English). Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 67. ISBN 0763741086. 
  2. ^ a b c Samuels, Lennox. "Lieutenant in Mexican drug cartel a wanted man", Dallas Morning News, March 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  3. ^ a b c Freeman, Laurie. State of Siege:Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 7,13,15. 
  4. ^ a b "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border" (January 9, 2008): 12,13. Majority Staff of the House Committee on Homeland Security. 
  5. ^ (November 17, 2005) Weak bilateral law enforcement presence at the U.S.Mexico border. Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives, 11. ISBN 1422334414. 
  6. ^ a b c d Noble, John (2006). Mexico. Lonely Planet Publications, 384. ISBN 1740597443. 
  7. ^ "Acapulco fears being `Narcapulco'", Miami Herald, February 07, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.