CUERNAVACA, Mexico (Reuters) – Mexican security forces have shot dead top drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva in the biggest strike yet for President Felipe Calderon’s drug war but one which could trigger fresh bloodshed.
Beltran Leyva, a cartel chief dubbed “The Boss of Bosses,” was felled in a spray of bullets on Wednesday night by elite navy troops at a luxury apartment complex in Cuernavaca, a fashionable weekend getaway city for Mexico City residents.
One of the country’s most-wanted traffickers, his death, along with six of his bodyguards, is a major coup for the government at the end of a year when drug violence has exploded to unprecedented levels and cartel arrests have flagged.
Yet analysts cautioned it could fan new violence as the Beltran Leyva cartel regroups and strikes back at security forces and whoever it believes tipped them off. Other gangs may clash as they try to muscle in on Beltran Leyva territory.
“Any time you take out one of these apex leaders it is a big victory, but it is also in some ways a double-sided victory because it leads to more violence,” said Scott Stewart of the Stratfor security consultancy.
Calderon, in Copenhagen for climate change talks, called the strike a big win for Mexico and praised the investigative work behind it. “Intelligence is an effective and powerful weapon in the fight against organized crime,” he said.
The Beltran Leyva cartel is one of half a dozen whose turf wars have slain more than 16,000 people since Calderon came to power in late 2006 and set the army on drug traffickers.
Despite the deployment of 49,000 troops across Mexico, drug killings have soared this year to an unprecedented 7,000 and atrocities including torture and decapitations are common, alarming the US government and threatening Mexico’s image as a stable destination for foreign investors and tourists.
Video footage showed Beltran Leyva’s bloodstained body lying in the hallway of the bullet-riddled apartment surrounded by glass shards from shot-out windows. He looked bloated and was wearing a T-shirt, casual pants and white trainers.
Elite navy forces in ski-masks shot him dead as they burst into the residence, whose rooms were cluttered with assault rifles, newly purchased clothing and items like a family photo album, a bible, a child’s television in pink plastic, a pair of crocodile-skin boots and plates of fruit, ham and eggs.
