Mexican army claims successes in drug war

MEXICO CITY, June 16 (UPI) -- The Mexican army is claiming success in the struggle to combat rising drug violence and corruption with the arrests in separate operations of a drug cartel leader in Cancun on the Caribbean coast and 25 suspected drug traffickers dressed as soldiers in the north of the country.

Authorities say that cartel head Juan Manuel Jurado Zarzoza, known as El R and the Puma, was arrested with three other suspected traffickers in possession of drugs and weapons. He was among those listed as Mexico's most wanted for being behind the torture-murder of a retired army general in February as well as for extensive drug-running and extortion operations.

Jurado's arrest has been seen as a blow to the operations of his Cardenas Guillen cartel in Cancun City, an international tourist resort and key base for cocaine trafficking from South America to the United States via the Gulf of Mexico.

Federal Defense Ministry officials said Jurado controlled all drug sales, kidnappings and extortion in the Yucatan peninsula and organized protection-money collection from the local tourist businesses.

In February retired Brig. Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quinones was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in Cancun only 24 hours after arriving to clean up the city's corrupt police force.

In another operation last weekend Mexican troops responded to a tip by raiding a ranch close to the U.S.-Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. There they arrested 25 men dressed as soldiers and confiscated a large arsenal of weapons and narcotics.

The Defense Ministry said the haul consisted of 29 large-caliber firearms, three small-caliber guns, more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition, four vehicles, 95 pounds of marijuana, 35 pounds of cocaine and 2,500 doses of crack cocaine.

An army spokesman in Chihuahua state said the men, posing in soldiers' uniforms, had been burning businesses and homes in Nicolas Bravo city.

But in a setback for authorities last weekend, 53 inmates -- including a dozen members of a powerful drug cartel -- escaped from a jail in central Mexico. Dozens of guards were detained Monday for questioning over the escape.

The Saturday morning jailbreak in Zacatecas state in central Mexico was caught on CCTV showing guards standing by as the inmates were led out by an armed gang. They then got into a convoy of some 15 vehicles and left.

An extensive army and federal police manhunt is under way for the escapees. Eleven of the men are very dangerous, prison officials said. Some of them are believed to belong to the Gulf Cartel drug-smuggling gang.

Meanwhile, the prison governor has been detained for questioning along with 40 guards and two police commanders.

Nearly 11,000 people have died since 2006 in territorial fights by drug gangs and government crackdowns after President Felipe Calderon launched his anti-drug campaign by sending 45,000 troops to hot-spot drug areas.

The U.S. Department of Defense has warned that Mexico is close to becoming a failed state because of drug lawlessness.