Mexico City – President Felipe Calderon said Tuesday that federal police have caught one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords.
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Calderon did not identify the suspect, but an official in central Aguascalientes state who was not authorized to be quoted by name said authorities have captured Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, the alleged leader of the La Familia cartel.
A posting by Calderon on his Twitter account called the arrest “a big blow” to the drug cartels.
Mexican newspapers also reported that Mendez had been detained. He is known by the nickname “El Chango,” or “The Monkey.” The government has offered a $2.5 million reward for his capture.
The cartel’s top leader, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, was killed in December during two days of shootouts between his gang and federal police in the western state of Michoacan.
Moreno announced the emergence of his La Familia drug cartel four years ago by having his gang roll five severed heads into a Michoacan nightclub and vowing to protect President Felipe Calderon’s home state from rival cartels.
Calderon responded by deploying thousands of federal police into Michoacan seeking to crush La Familia, warning that the cartel was corrupting local officials, extorting businesses and terrorizing the population.
The cult-like cartel uses pseudo-Christian ideology while gruesomely decapitating foes and selling cocaine and methamphetamine by the ton.