Borderland Beat
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The Gift
The capture of Inés Coronel Barreras, father in law
of Chapo Guzmán, in Sonora, last April 30, apparently was not the result of
intelligence work of Mexican federal agencies in charge of anti-drug trafficking operations, it was the
result of information and work conducted by the DEA.
This is the information confided to Proceso by
Mexican and American agents. The arrest was an attempt by the DEA to win favor
of the Pena Nieto administration that would win support allowing them to continue operating freely in México, as it was in the
Calderón administration.
Operation Father-In-law Was a Gift from DEA to México
Intelligence agents from both Mexico and the US have unequivocally confirmed to
Proceso that the capture of Inés
Coronel Barreras, father in law of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, leader of Sinaloa Cartel,
was a gift from DEA to the government of Enrique Peña Nieto.
“Coronel
Barrera was located by the DEA and the information given to the government of
President Peña Nieto with the purpose of opening the doors for the United
States intelligence agencies that have been slammed shut by Peña”, said a
Mexican intelligence agent, who lives in Agua Prieta, a city adjacent to
Douglas, Arizona.
“Do you think
the arrest of Chapo’s father-in-law was a surgical operation?” The Mexican agent
asked.
“Maybe the DEA
gave it to the Navy [Marina] on silver platter so afterwards the Army, Secretariat
of Government and PGR can hang a medal” (take credit).
On April 30th,
at approximately at 5:40 am, thirty federal vehicles moved in on the avenues
International 20, 30, and 6th Street of this border town.
Sleep of residents
was suddenly interrupted by commotion caused by speeding federal vehicles and
the blades of the Tomahawk helicopter, that was supporting them, flying at low altitude,
according to the accounts by sources, communicated to the reporter.
More than 250
soldiers, marines and federal police that arrived at dawn to this location of
Agua Prieta entered to several homes conducting quick inspections.
“And to
everybody’s surprise, including local authorities, who were not informed about
the operation, after two hours and five minutes (at 7:45 am) the more than 250
federal agents, as well as the helicopter disappeared leaving the town in astonishment
who did even not know what had ensued”.
The invasion
and quick exit of the numerous groups of uniformed men left the town stunned residents.
It’s because before this morning, in this part of Sonora nothing happened, or
at least nothing spectacular, it was considered a “safe and totally controlled
plaza” because of the power structure of Sinaloa Cartel.
It was not
until noon when the people of Agua Prieta began spreading the rumor that
federal agents had captured the “troublesome relative” of El Chapo (that’s how people in Sonora refer to
Coronel Barrera).
At 4:00 pm of
the same day, Eduardo Sánchez, sub secretary of Norms and Media of the
Secretariat of Government, announced in a press conference that the Mexican
authorities had captured the father in law of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The government of Peña Nieto announced; the arrest was made without gun fire
due to the effectiveness of the Mexican intelligence system that had located
the alleged drug trafficker.
The narrative of the
events in Agua Prieta are that about an hour after the federal officers left,
from several areas of almost the entire state of Sonora, about 80 vehicles
(mostly trucks) full of armed men quickly headed in several directions towards
the mountains.
"It was the
chiefs of the plaza that El Chapo and El Mayo (Ismael Zambada Garcia) have in
the entire state, says one of the witnesses that spoke under the condition of
anonymity.
It all started in Colombia
“Was it the DEA who
located Coronel Barreras in Agua Prieta?” An intelligence agent of the United
States, who requested anonymity, was asked.
“What I can say is
that the government of the United States had time to investigate and follow the
tracks of Coronel Barreras in Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora and South America”.
Pressuring him
to explain further in the case of the father-in-law of the leader of the
Sinaloa Cartel, the agent specializing in Mexican drug trafficking explains
that it all started at the beginning of 2012 with a DEA investigation focused
on the Colombian Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa.
According to
DEA website, Cifuentes Villa is leader of an organization dedicated to traffic
cocaine.
“Cifuentes’s
organization amassed a great fortune in money and illicit properties, as one of
the main providers of cocaine to the Sinaloa Cartel”, reads on a page of the
DEA.
The American agent reveals that in several
intelligence reports written by DEA about the Cifuentes Villa Organization, the
name Coronel Barreras came up.
"He is identified
as the contact person of El Chapo and the person in charge of the
transportation of cocaine shipments that originated from several points of
South America to Central America and México", he clarifies.
click on any image to enlarge
On February 13 of
this year, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of
Treasury of the United States designated Cifuentes Villa – who also has Mexican
nationality- “most significant drug trafficker”.
With this label, Washington
applied sanctions, confiscated properties and froze bank accounts that belonged
to Cifuentes Villa or associated to him, which were under United States
jurisdiction.
OFAC maintains that
Cifuentes is owner of 15 companies that operate in Colombia, Mexico and
Ecuador.
“Coronel Barrera was under
surveillance by DEA, it’s true, which
was confirmed a little more than a month ago, when in Ecuador a shipment of
four tons of cocaine was seized that Cifuentes Villa was sending to Mexico”,
says the agent.
[Cifuntes Villa was captured in Venezuela and extradited to Colombia in 2012, his sister Dolly
Cifuentes Villa was extradited to the United States in August of 2012. Dolly’s daughter, Ana Maria Uribe Cifuentes
was also arrested. The arrest of Ana
Maria caused uproar in Colombia as it became known she is the niece of Álvaro Uribe former president of
Colombia.
The president declared he had
no knowledge of any relationship to Ana Maria.
Uribe’s brother Jaime is said to
be Ana Maria’s father, the former president scommented:
"My brother Jaime died in 2001, he was married to Astrid Velez, they
had two children ... Any other romantic relationship that my brother may have
had was part of his personal life and is unknown to me," Álvaro Uribe
tweeted. He denied Jaime was ever linked to the drug lord Pablo Escobar.
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Ana Maria at left dolly at right |
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