The Mexican Navy announced the arrest of José Alberto García Vilano, alias La Kena or Ciclón 19. The capo is the leader of Los Ciclones, one of the Gulf Cartel's most violent factions and the group behind the kidnapping of four Americans last year in the border city of Matamoros. Authorities offered a reward of 2.5 million pesos (about $150,000) to anyone who provided information that would facilitate his arrest. García Vilano is considered one of the most dangerous men in northeastern Mexico and is a priority target for the DEA. He was arrested while shopping at an exclusive mall in San Pedro Garza García, the richest municipality in Latin America.
La Kena appears in the video of his arrest, recorded Thursday at a suit store, handcuffed and escorted by a group of sailors and ministerial agents from the state of Nuevo León. The boss, who ordered his subordinates to exercise absolute discretion so as not to attract attention, wore an Adidas sweatshirt, black pants and white tennis shoes. No particular feature stands out in his capture record. “He served as one of the key leaders of one of the criminal organizations with the largest presence in the state of Tamaulipas, for which the Attorney General's Office of the aforementioned state has offered a large reward,” the Navy said.
Despite the immense power he amassed in the Matamoros-Brownsville border region south of Texas, there is little public information about García Vilano. The kidnapping of four African-American citizens and the murder of two of them last March put a target on his head. The case strained relations between Mexico and the United States and fueled claims by the most conservative political sectors in Washington about the insecurity south of the border and the need for intervention by US military forces against the Mexican cartels. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador described the comments as an affront to the country's sovereignty. The diplomatic tensions overshadowed the rescue of two survivors, the FBI's search operations in Tamaulipas and the announcement of the discovery of the victims in the middle of a morning conference by Governor Américo Villarreal.
In March, the Tamaulipas prosecutor's office released a poster offering a reward for catching La Kena, wanted for the crime of kidnapping and as the leader of the hitmen who deprived Americans of their freedom. A month later, US media revealed that US security agencies were spying on the Gulf Cartel and obtained recordings of the criminal group's internal discussions about possible arrests, the authorities' response and the advice of their lawyers to delete all information about the Americans to avoid this tracked.
Los Ciclones, a branch of Los Escorpiones, the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel, is one of the many criminal groups that claim territory in Tamaulipas, one of the hotspots of violence in Mexico. “As La Kena is called: If you want to find out something here in Matamoros, you see me walking,” are the lyrics of the corrido dedicated to the capo, performed by Luis R. Conríquez and Tony Aguirre. “Nineteen on the spokes, for all the armored and embedded bands of the Cyclone, is the tostón,” is added about its codename Ciclón 19 or Comandante 19. The song, released last year, also references Los Escorpiones and the border control strip. “I am Escorpión 19, the town of Matamoros, we protect the kingdom from all traitors, they will not be forgiven,” can be heard in Anillos de Oro, another corrido related to the drug trafficker, in which his loyalty to the cartel is discussed . Golfo and his leadership, even though he is only 32 years old.
In the middle of last year, the Northeast Cartel (CDN) sent a message to López Obrador to offer a ceasefire with the Gulf Cartel authorities and factions. “I support anything that means putting aside or not using force,” the president said on May 30, although he later pointed out that his words had been misinterpreted and that he was not promoting a pact with the cartels, but rather a Admonition to them They should lead humanely and lay down their weapons. In June, suspected members of the CDN responded to the president in another video, speaking of the need to end the violence and promote a transitional justice law. They also said they had held peace talks “with the CDG department.” [Cartel del Golfo] in Matamoros” to sign the peace. Despite the controversy surrounding the veracity of the recording and its contents, violence continued, as did efforts to find bosses like La Kena. The arrest took place ten months after the kidnapping.
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