CARTEL LEADER SPILLS THE BEANS

A RECENTLY arrested leader and founder of Mexican drug cartel Los
Zetas says the group gets their drugs in Guatemala and their weapons
are smuggled from the US across the Rio Grande.

Rejon Jesus Enrique Aguilar, also known as "El Mamito", was arrested
on July 3 in a district near the Mexican capital.

"We buy (narcotics) in Guatemala," Aguilar said in a video. "It is
not reliable (buying from) the Colombians," he added.

The authorities declared Guatemala's Peten department, on the border
with Mexico, under siege in May after the slaughter and beheading of
27 people. The crime was attributed to Zetas.

Aguilar also revealed that the cartel bought weapons from the US,
smuggled into Mexico over the Rio Grande. Mexico has long called for
stricter gun laws in the US.

Los Zetas, one of Mexico's most violent cartels, was founded by elite
military who deserted to work with the Gulf Cartel.

According to Mexico, early last year, the Gulf and Zetas cartels
began a deadly war for control of criminal territory and drug
trafficking into the US.

In Monterrey - the capital of Nuevo Leon state, one of the former
allies' chief battlegrounds - the Mexican military raided a house and
rescued 20 kidnapped men on Sunday.

The victims were in a 9sqm area with their hands and feet bound. They
said they had been recently kidnapped in different parts of
Monterrey, the third-largest city in Mexico.

The kidnappers had demanded a ransom for each hostage of between
20,000 and 50,000 pesos ($1600-$4000).

More than 37,000 people have been killed since December 2006 when the
government unleashed some 50,000 soldiers to pursue cartels.