Military kills drug lord
Soldiers strike safe house of Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Coronel
MEXICO CITY – One of the top three leaders of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel died in a gunfight with soldiers Thursday, ending the long run of a mysterious capo considered a founder of the country’s massive methamphetamine trade.
The death of Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel near the city of Guadalajara is the biggest strike yet against the Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman – Mexico’s top drug lord – since President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against drug traffickers in late 2006.
According to the FBI, which offered a $5 million reward for the 56-year-old Coronel, he was believed to be “the forerunner in producing massive amounts of methamphetamine in clandestine laboratories in Mexico, then smuggling it into the U.S.”
Gen. Edgar Luis Villegas said an army raid was closing in one of Coronel’s safe houses in an upscale suburb of the western city of Guadalajara, when the drug lord opened fire on soldiers.
“Nacho Coronel tried to escape and fired on military personnel, killing one soldier and wounding another,” Villegas said at a news conference in Mexico City. “Responding to the attack, this ‘capo’ died.”
Villegas said the raid “significantly affects the operational capacity and drug distribution of the organization run by Guzman.”
Coronel’s downfall came amid persistent allegations that Calderon’s administration appeared to be favoring the Sinaloa cartel, or not hitting it as hard as other drug gangs.
Those allegations have drawn angry denials from the president and his top law enforcement officials, who point to the 2009 arrest of Vicente Zambada – the son of Ismael Zambada, Sinaloa’s No. 2 leader – as proof they were going after the gang.
During Thursday’s raid, helicopters circled over the Guadalajara suburb of Zapopan, as soldiers appeared to search at least two homes. Soldiers arrested Francisco Quinonez Gastelum, Coronel’s alleged right-hand man.
Villegas said Coronel controlled routes through the states of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacan – known as the “Pacific route” for cocaine smuggling.