Mexican Drug Lord, Benjamin Arellano Felix, was captured on Saturday, March 9, 2002 by Mexican authorities in the historic town of Puebla, near Mexico City. The authorities, with US intelligence help, found Benjamin in a house together with an altar to his brother Ramon, possibly verifying that he was killed in a shootout last month. The cartel run by the brothers and based in Tijuana, had been running drugs from Colombia and Mexico to the U.S. for over a decade. The arrest has been put forth by Mexico as proof of their commitment to battle narcotics trafficking and hopefully persuade the Bush Administration to take Mexico out of consideration for the annual drug certification decision made in March of each year.

News Stories:

"Mexican Drug Lord's Arrest Helps Fox as He Awaits Bush,"
The New York Times, March 11, 2002

"Mexico seizes top drugs suspect,"
The BBC News, March 11, 2002