Pubdate: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 Source: Arizona Republic (AZ) Copyright: 2002 The Arizona Republic Contact: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24 Author: Tessie Borden, Republic Mexico City Bureau Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Arellano-Felix http://www.mapinc.org/area/Mexico TIJUANA PUBLISHER USES HIS PEN AS SWORD AGAINST DRUG CARTEL TIJUANA, Mexico - The headquarters from which Jesus Blancornelas wages war on the Arellano-Felix drug cartel is intentionally understated: an average-looking house in a middle-class barrio with a small sign near the gate announcing Zeta Magazine. It's the three or four "guaruras," or bodyguards, hanging around just outside, with their mirrored shades and alert postures, that give one pause. They have good reason to be there. For 17 years, Blancornelas has fought with words the men who use guns to forge a path for much of the marijuana and cocaine that reaches the United States through the California-Mexico border. His target and self-admitted obsession is the powerful Arellano-Felix drug cartel, based in Tijuana and currently considered the largest and best- organized drug organization in Mexico. This week, the magazine carries a story about the girlfriend of an Arellano-Felix associate who was an important clue in the March capture of Benjamin Arellano-Felix, chief of the cartel. (Arellano- Felix's brother, Ramon, who ran the cartel with him, was killed in a shootout with police a month earlier in Mazatlan). Five years ago, drug dealers' bullets almost silenced Blancornelas. As he and chauffeur Luis Valero drove down a narrow street, a green SUV blocked their path and a gunman opened fire from the passenger's seat. The bullets hit Blancornelas in the neck, abdomen and near his spine. Valero swerved and tried to cover Blancornelas with his body while the newsman called for help on his CB radio. Minutes later, rescuers rushed him to a hospital. He survived, but Valero was killed. A notorious drug runner for the Arellano-Felixes also died in the crossfire. Blancornelas described his assailant to police. Evidence later showed 10 gunmen ambushed the car. No one has ever been arrested. "There is no police officer in Mexico capable of arresting the killers of my friend Luis," Blancornelas wrote in his 2001 book, Private Conversations, which is also the title of his weekly Zeta column. "The Arellano-Felix cartel has proved more powerful." The attacks came weeks after Blancornelas published an open letter from Maria Castanos, whose two sons had been killed by the cartel. In it, she challenged Ramon to "kill me, if you're such a man, come kill me." The report was said to have angered Ramon, but the magazine did not let up. Reports on the arrest of Everardo "Kitty" Paez, with names and dates confessed, followed, along with a piece on the murder of two military men reportedly ordered by David "El C.H." Corona Barron, the man who was killed in the attempt on Blancornelas' life. After several operations and weeks in intensive care, Blancornelas returned to work, holding news meetings from his hospital bed. It was the third time the subjects of his stinging articles had gone after him. In 1987, Zeta's office was sprayed with gunfire. In 1988, his colleague and Zeta co-founder, Hector Felix Miranda, was killed by men working for Jorge Frank Rhon, a member of one of Mexico's most powerful families. The motive remains a mystery, even though two assailants were convicted. Blancornelas' reportage has attracted nervous and hostile attention since he arrived in Tijuana in 1960 from his native San Luis Potosi. Before turning his raging pen to the Arellano-Felixes, he wrote about official corruption for El Mexicano, a local paper, and for ABC, a newspaper he founded. Police frequently harassed the publications. Now, Blancornelas lives a regimented life oscillating between Zeta and his home, guarded by 10 to 13 men. Any excursion outside those locations - say, to a restaurant or a movie theater - requires extensive planning and stakeouts to identify safe exits and observation points. Despite all this, Blancornelas, polite and elegant in person, refuses to shut up. "The Arellano-Felix cartel is the one that has lasted longest in Latin America," he said in an interview at his Zeta office. "They have been around since 1982." His work has earned Blancornelas international recognition. In June, the Inter-American Press Association gave him its top award, the grand prize for Press Freedom, calling him a reporter "who has dedicated his career and, indeed, his well-being to the pursuit of a free press that is vigilant, untainted by corruption and committed to defending the Mexican people." Now, Blancornelas has published a book about his single-minded focus. The Cartel, a history of the Arellano-Felixes, was published in Mexico City in July. He has no illusions that Benjamin's arrest and Ramon's death have dismantled the cartel. "The cartel is not one person," he said. "It's a family." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake