Mexican Police Announce Capture Of...

[Marechal Ney]

...The Monkey!

No, not A monkey, THE monkey; AKA Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, leader of the La Familia cartel.

Mexican authorities captured the top leader of one of the country's most violent drug cartels Tuesday, officials said.

Federal police captured Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, also known as "The Monkey," in an operation in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico's national security spokesman said.

Spokesman Alejandro Poire called Mendez the "principal head" of La Familia Michoacana cartel and said his capture was the federal government's "most overwhelming blow" to the group.

"This capture destroys what remained of the leadership structure of this criminal organization," he said.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon praised the capture on his official Twitter account: "A large blow by federal police to organized crime. One of the most wanted criminals was captured. Congratulations."
Mexico's Attorney General's Office had offered a 30 million peso ($2.5 million) reward for information leading to his arrest, saying Mendez was the mastermind behind drug trafficking, kidnappings and killings.
Tuesday's operation marks the fall of 21 of the suspects on Mexico's "most dangerous criminals" list, Poire said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americ...html?hpt=hp_t1

Is this a great step forward for Mexico, or does it mean that all the other cartel leaders get a bit more powerful from Mendez's fall?

[Uber Patriot]

whatever happens I don't see the violence improving
I wouldn't like to be the judge or jury on his trial

[the_mango55]

I wouldn't like to be the judge or jury on his trial

This

If the police cared about the lives of its citizens they would have shot him on the spot and planted a gun on him if necessary.

[kentuckybandit]

If the police cared about the lives of its citizens they would have shot him on the spot and planted a gun on him if necessary.

This. I know the need to uphold the law and its process is great, but they really are at war down there and if there ever was a time to go Wild West on them it is now. Perhaps they are afraid of violence increasing even more if these cartel guys realize they aren't going to be taken in alive.

[Haldred]

I wouldn't be surprised if he "escapes" *wink*, *wink*, and some guards going home richer or dead.

[Claudius Gothicus]

Levels of VIolence are already way too high for a single capture to act as a catalizer. They to take a whole front policy, which is kinda hard when politics and bureacrats are financed by Narcos.

[Darth_Revan]

I wouldn't be surprised if he "escapes" *wink*, *wink*, and some guards going home richer or dead.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Just shoot the bastard and move on to the next one.

[hellheaven1987]

In case people don't know, La Familia already got weaker significantly since last year and there are signs that the organization is slowly tranformed into a new one. Furthermore, La Familia is always considered as a moderate group within Mexican drug cartels and a factor to supress more extreme groups, hence its downfall probably spell more violence instead anything improvements.

[JNS]

This is meaningless in the long run. If the cartle does not replace him, there will be other cartels gaining power. As long as drugs are illegal this is not going to be solved

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

They should crucify the monkey

[Sir Winston Churchill]

They should crucify the monkey

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

There! Are you happy now!

[Dr. Croccer]

This is probably going to be pointless. Only a tiny fraction of those arrested and tried actually go to jail, and in it they usually still have a lot of influence, if they don't escape. They should've interrogated and then shot him. I've said it before, Mexico needs a zero tolerance policy, if only for a while. Just to thin out the ranks and make the situation more manageable.

[torongill]

Whatev. That's like the German plans to kill Churchill, like one of the sceptics said "And what will change? The Tommies will elect Attley and the Lancasters will carry on coming in the night and Flying Fortresses in daytime."

[removeduser_4536284751384]

Jury trial is ridiculous anyway.

There should be elected judges who judge people in court. There could be, say, 3 per case.

[the_mango55]

Jury trial is ridiculous anyway.

There should be elected judges who judge people in court. There could be, say, 3 per case.

Hell no, that's a terrible idea. Judges would try to win votes on how many people they convict, "tough on crime" is a common political slogan.

I don't want politics influencing someone's guilt or innocence, it's already bad enough with district attorneys trying to build cases out of nothing and trying to get convictions even if they suspect the defendent is innocent.

[Angrychris]

things there are nothing like here

[Choki]

things there are nothing like here

like where? what do you mean

[Enemy of the State]

3 more just took his place. The war is unwinnable. Legalize drugs or this will go on forever.

[the_mango55]

We don't care nearly enough about Mexico to legalize drugs.

Pot should be legal though.