Mexico declares victory against La Familia drug cartel

Nice, but like the article says the leftovers of La Familia will blend right in with the other gangs.
to think that the drug cartels will ever go away is insane, a victory here and there sure thats going to happen, but the network is far to big and expansive to ever get rid of it, there is also to much money to be made.

Mexico City
The Christian Science Monitor
Mexican President Felipe Calderon can declare a decisive victory in his country's brutal war on drugs.
Federal authorities have arrested the leader of La Familia, the drug trafficking organization that espouses religious ideals, but gained worldwide notoriety when it tossed five human heads onto a dance floor in Michoacan state four years ago. Since then La Familia has made money and wielded influence through not just drug running but kidnapping, extortion, intimidation, and murder.

Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, also known as El Chango, or “The Monkey,” was arrested in the state of Aguascalientes, the government announced Tuesday.

“With this arrest, what remained of the structure of this criminal organization has been destroyed," security spokesman Alejandro Poire said at a news conference.

His arrest follows the death of the group’s founder, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, in December.

George Grayson, a professor at William & Mary and author of “Mexico: Narco- Violence and a Failed State,” says that the arrest effectively decapitates the organization. But with alliances that La Familia made with other groups, including the Sinaloa cartel, against the Zetas group, many secondary leaders could simply get absorbed into the Sinaloa group. “The Sinaloa cartel will spread into Michoacan,” he says.

La Familia cartel in retreat

La Familia Disbanded, I don't think so.

Maybe laying low, but disbanded; No!


Foxnews
The Mexican government vowed Tuesday not to back down in its fight against La Familia drug cartel, despite mysterious banners proclaiming that the brutal gang has dissolved itself.

Lawmakers and drug war experts expressed skepticism about the banners, saying the message could be a ploy to divert the focus of federal security forces away from the cartel, known for beheadings and bold attacks on police and soldiers.

Alejandro Poire, the federal government's security spokesman, "there would be no truce" with La Familia. He did not comment directly on the banners but said La Familia has been weakened since its leader Nazario Moreno was killed in a gunbattle with police last month.

"What is clear is that this criminal organization is weakened and in retreat," Poire said at a news conference.

The banners claiming "La Familia is completely dissolved" appeared Monday on bridges in western Michoacan state, the cartel's stronghold.