Pubdate: Fri, 15 Nov 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Section: International
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Ginger Thompson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

MEXICAN COURT CLEARS DRUG CARTEL BOSS OF 1993 KILLING OF CARDINAL

MEXICO CITY - A federal court today cleared Benjamin Arellano Felix, the 
reputed boss of Mexico's biggest drug cartel, of charges that he staged a 
1993 gun battle that killed a Roman Catholic cardinal.

The decision releases Mr. Arellano, 48, from responsibility for a crime 
that outraged this devoutly Catholic nation. It also dims hopes that 
Mexican officials will win justice in the assassination of Cardinal Juan 
Jesus Posadas Ocampo.

Mr. Arellano's arrest by Mexican officials in March was considered a major 
victory against drug trafficking. Since then, courts have cleared Mr. 
Arellano in three of the six indictments filed by Mexican prosecutors.

A spokeswoman for Mexico's attorney general, however, pointed out that the 
most serious charges, which include drug trafficking and organized crime, 
are still pending. American officials have said that they have what one 
called a "slam-dunk case" against Mr. Arellano.

"We have a strong indictment up here," said Donald J. Thornhill Jr., a 
spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency in San Diego. "We are just 
looking forward to getting our hands on him."

But of all the charges against him, Mr. Arellano had seemed most adamant 
about his innocence in the assassination of Cardinal Posadas, who was 
killed by gunfire outside the Guadalajara airport. Investigators charged 
that gunmen sent by Mr. Arellano confused the cardinal's car with that of a 
rival.

"He is mortified about being accused of killing the cardinal," Americo 
Delgado, Mr. Arellano's lawyer, said of his client, who is being held at a 
maximum-security prison outside Mexico City. "He is a committed Catholic."

Indeed, in recent interviews from jail with Mexican and American reporters, 
Mr. Arellano has said that he met with church officials after Cardinal 
Posadas's assassination in an effort to clear his name.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Mr. Arellano said that he had 
sent a message to Mexico's former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, 
offering to turn himself in.

Mr. Arellano led the criminal operations of the most feared drug gang in 
Mexico. The gang, based in Tijuana and run by six Arellano Felix brothers, 
used hundreds of killings and uncounted millions in bribes to win control 
of most of Mexico's border with southern California.

Drug agency reports say the cartel carried out 300 murders over the last 
decade and smuggled hundreds of tons of cocaine and heroin into the United 
States.

The arrest of Mr. Arellano and the presumed death earlier this year of his 
brother Ramon, 37, considered the cartel's murderous enforcer, dealt a 
devastating blow to the cartel. Still, it continues to operate.
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