HILLARY CLINTON'S SPECIAL PRIVLEGES INCLUDE FALSIFYING REPORTS WITH THE MEXICAN NAVY WHILE PROMOTING ANITA ALVAREZ' & PATTI SOLIS' CAREERS & THREATENING AMERICAN CITIZENS, US FEDERAL AGENTS, & NATO FORCES ON AMERICA'S BORDERS
Jun. 22, 2012 03:25 PM Associated Press
MEXICO CITY -- After working months with U.S. intelligence, the Mexican navy nabbed a big prize in a known narco-haven in suburban Guadalajara: the son of Mexico's top fugitive drug lord.
But his wife says they got the wrong man.
The man arrested Thursday as the presumed son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, is really Felix Beltran Leon, the 23-year-old father of a toddler who works with his mother-in-law at a used car dealership, said Karla Pacheco.
The Mexican navy employed great fanfare when they presented a man they identified as Alfredo Guzman Salazar, saying he is believed to be the son of Sinaloa Cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, as well as a rising operator in the international drug trafficking organization.
"There is total confusion," said his lawyer Veronica Guerrero said, "... which is having a serious effect on their personal and family situation."
The Mexican Attorney General's Office issued a statement Friday saying its information came from the U.S.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said the information came from Mexico.
Both say they're checking their DNA files.
"The Mexican Navy and Mexican law enforcement have said this is El Chapo's son and that's what we took," said DEA spokesman Rusty Payne, noting that the DEA is working separately to confirm the man's identity.
Pacheco showed The Associated Press what she said were her husband's voting credential and driver's license. The man bears only slight resemblance to a photograph of Guzman's son recently issued by the U.S. Treasury Department.
"We've never had any links to drug traffickers. He's not the person they say he is," Pacheco said.
Pacheco said the couple and their
1-year-old were sleeping in their home in Zapopan, an upscale suburb of the western city of Guadalajara, when marines kicked in the door and arrested her husband and his half-brother, 19-year-old Kevin Daniel Beltran Rios.
The men were found with a grenade launcher and four grenades, two assault rifles, two pistols and $135,000 in cash, the navy said. Pacheco said there were no drugs or guns, but the family did have the cash because of a recent home sale.
Another lawyer, Heriberto Rangel Mendez, said the government planted the weapons.
The possible misidentification could be embarrassing for both countries in the cat-and-mouse game they are playing with Guzman, who has been on the run since escaping from a Mexican prison in a laundry cart in 2001. The Treasury Department has called Guzman the world's most powerful drug lord.
Both countries are conducting an intensified manhunt for Guzman. Mexican authorities said they narrowly missed him in February as he was vacationing in the Baja resort of Los Cabos under the nose of heavy security during an international meeting of foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Mexican Navy said that El Chapo's son, Guzman Salazar, has been taking on an increasing leadership role in the cartel and purportedly served as the administrator of his father's fortune, estimated by Forbes magazine at about $1 billion.
Mexican authorities have said that the man they presented to the news media on Thursday was captured during a raid by marines in Zapopan, an upscale suburb of the western city of Guadalajara, thanks to intelligence work and information from U.S. authorities.
Authorities identified the other suspect, Beltran Rios, as an alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Guzman Salazar is wanted in the United States on an outstanding extradition request, to face charges in Chicago related to drug trafficking.
