Monday

Last month, the US Coast Guard nabbed the youngest and freest leader of the Tijuana Narcotics Cartel, Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, while he was fishing the Sea of Cortez with friends. Since then he has plead, get this, not guilty of charges relating to being the de facto head of México's most brutal criminal organization of the last two decades. The fates of the other passengers on that ill-fated fishing trip are leading speculators to believe that there is a very large case at stake.* So far, only the teenage babysitter has been allowed back to México. Others are being offered immunity to testify, or being held on trumped-up charges of misidentification to maybe lengthen the time the DEA has to bring more severe charges. And the other brothers? Ramon was gunned down, Benjamin languishes in jail, and Francisco Rafael, the oldest, has been extradited to the US just today.* Twenty-six years ago, Rafael allegedly sold nine ounces of cocaine to an undercover narcotics agent in San Diego, was arrested, and then jumped bail and fled back to México. This is a hilariously low-rent type of a crime in light of the vast and bloody evil empire that has sprung up under the Arellano Felix name in the ensuing years. A decade ago, Rafael was arrested and indicted in México on weapons and bribery charges, and just recently completed his ten-year sentence. Now he will go to serve a sentence in the US. This orchestration of events should serve to keep the Arellano Felix organization headless, and according to the cited article, Benjamin, who might just run things from his cell, may get extradited as well. I am concerned that this might prompt a turf war in Tijuana similar to the one being fought along the border here. [Cavin]