AGENTS HELD IN TAPED KILLING

Prosecutor Says Officials Working for Traffickers Targeted Rival Cartel

Corrupt federal agents working for drug traffickers are the primary
authors of a shocking video in which four enforcers for a rival
cartel are interrogated and one is shot in the head, a top Mexican
prosecutor said Thursday.

Eight federal agents and two civilians are in custody, accused of
kidnapping and torturing the Nuevo Laredo-based Zetas, allies of the
Gulf cartel, said Deputy Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago
Vasconcelos. The eight are members of the elite Federal Investigative
Agency, modeled on the FBI. Three more agents are considered
fugitives, he added, and seven civilians are still at large.

The video of the interrogation and shooting was made public Thursday
by The Dallas Morning News, prompting Mr. Vasconcelos to hold a news
conference to respond to the graphic revelations.

"This video has resulted in a series of important consequences," said
Mr. Vasconcelos, adding that his office has had a copy of it for
several months. The deputy attorney general's account differs from
that of two other investigators who have told The News that while
some AFI agents could have been involved, the operation was carried
out mainly by either former or current military.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the two investigators stood by
their account on Thursday. One declined to comment further. The other
said, "The government is trying to underplay the role of the
military." Mr. Vasconcelos said the unseen men on the tape who are
carrying out the interrogation are federal agents, apparently
directed by unseen drug traffickers.

An investigation by Mr. Vasconcelos' organized-crime unit determined
the agents kidnapped the four Zetas, held at least some of them in
Acapulco, and may have made the tape at the beach resort.

Possible Motive

Acapulco has become a new staging area for a raging rivalry between
the Zetas, the enforcement arm of the Nuevo Laredo-based Gulf Cartel
and their Sinaloa Cartel counterparts.

Mr. Vasconcelos said the kidnapping of the four Zetas shown on the
videotape was possibly an act of revenge by a reputed Sinaloa cartel
lieutenant, or Edgar Valdes Villareal, a U.S. citizen known as "La
Barbie." Zeta members had apparently captured "La Barbie's" brother,
identified in the video only as "Miguel."

An interrogator on the video asks one of the Zetas "why did you
kidnap Miguel, my brother?"

Mr. Vasconcelos said the voice does not appear to be that of Mr.
Valdes (La Barbie) because of the accent. But he may have been
present and directing the questions through the agents, he said.

Mr. Vasconcelos said one motive for the video could have been an
attempt at misinformation. By forcing the Zetas to confess to a
series of crimes, including the assassination of a radio reporter and
the Nuevo Laredo police chief, the Sinaloa cartel is trying to bring
more government heat to their rivals, he said.

In that sense, the video is staged and serves as a kind of publicity
stunt to shift public opinion, he said.

For example, the interrogations imply corruption on the part of
former Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha or his deputies,
but are actually a form of payback for Mr. Macedo's honestly and his
unprecedented attack on the drug cartels, Mr. Vasconcelos said.

"We do not have a lot of confidence in this video because of the way
it was made," said Mr. Vasconcelos.

Men are missing Likewise, the Zetas in the video imply that the slain
radio reporter, Guadalupe "Lupita" Garcia Escamilla had been working
with them but wanted out and therefore was killed.

Ms. Escamilla's family has denied her involvement with the drug
cartel. Mr. Vasconcelos said his office has found no evidence to
imply that the reporter had been corrupted by the Gulf cartel.

In October, The News published an lengthy report into the killing of
Ms. Garcia and quoted Rogelio Garcia Fernandez, then the assistant
attorney general in the state of Tamaulipas as saying, "Her
activities and subsequent death could be tied to organized crime.
Perhaps she worked for members of organized crime."

And a media executive told The News that she tried to manipulate
local reports on the cartel.

Mr. Vasconcelos said authorities have not found the body of the slain
Zeta shown in the video nor the other three men, either alive or
dead. Two of them are former Army soldiers, he added.

Reactions Mr. Vasconcelos' news conference came after the Mexican
media had widely reported the story on morning TV and radio newscasts
and newspaper web sites. Many offered links to Dallas' WFAA Web site,
which carried excerpts of the video.

During his morning news briefing, presidential spokesman Ruben
Aguilar was questioned about the video and said that a government
investigation was under way. Mr. Vasconcelos said he knew of no
similar videos captured by police or in the hands of reporters but
would not be surprised if something similar surfaces in the future.
Likewise, the U.S. government reacted to the video Thursday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reviewed the DVD but has not
independently authenticated it, said spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback. "If
it is real, it could be a troubling sign that violence is continuing
in the region," she said. "And we have said in the past that we do
have concerns about how corruption continues to play a role in
facilitating all kinds of smuggling. But we believe it's important to
continue to work with the government of Mexico to attack the
organizations that are responsible for both the smuggling and the
continued violence."

'Spillage of Violence'

U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies are working in partnership,
she noted, on Operation Black Jack, an ICE-led initiative designed to
attack the Zetas and other smuggling organizations and drug cartel
enforcers that operate in the Laredo/Nuevo Laredo area.

In Laredo, Tom Sanchez, spokesman for the Webb County Sheriff's
Department, declined to comment specifically about information in the
DVD, noting that the information is "very law-enforcement sensitive."
Mr. Sanchez stressed, however, that there was plenty of other
evidence to demonstrate level of violence in Nuevo Laredo and how it
has crossed the border. "Two weeks after Sheriff [Rick] Flores took
office in January, we had a double homicide committed by gang members
who had contracted with the drug cartel," Mr. Sanchez said. "The
murder of another man at a Laredo car dealership in June has been
definitely tied to the cartel. "Whatever may or may not be seen on
that video, we already have plenty of proof of the spillage of
violence across the border," he said. Mr. Sanchez expressed amazement
that the DVD had been sent to news media outlets. "It's like
something al-Qaeda would do," he said.