Mexican naval forces on July 13 captured Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, head of the Zetas cartel, who was apprehended with two lieutenants in a pick-up truck in the municipality of Anáhuac, Nuevo León. Early reports that placed the arrest in Treviño's home turf of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, were apparently incorrect. Officials said he had eight guns and $2 million in cash. Treviño and his henchmen reportedly surrendered without firing a shot as a military helicopter began tailing their vehicle from their air. They are now said to be under interrogation by the Special Sub-prosecutor for Investigation of Organized Crime (SEIDO).

Code-named Z-40, Treviño assumed leadership of the notoriously blood-drenched Zetas following the death of the narco-paramilitary network's founder Heriberto Lazcano in October 2012. Before that he had been the number-two man in the network, which began in the 1990s as the paramilitary wing of the Gulf Cartel but broke with the parent organization in 2010 in its own bid for supremacy. Treviño controlled the strategic entrepot of Nuevo Laredo, which was the scene of much horrific violence between the Zetas and Gulf Cartel. Authorities believe leadership of the Zetas will now pass to Treviño's younger brother, Omar Treviño Morales, code-named Z-42. (BBC News, Radio Formula, CNN Mexico, Excelsior, San Marcos Mercury, July 16)

Please support our fund drive.