Founder of 'Los Zetas' Dies in Confrontation with Military in Reynosa According to La Jornada~ CONFIRMED BY BBC!!!!!!

From the editor:  A reader sent a link to the article below from La Jornada. It has been roughly translated into English by SDL, a popular translation service. 


Mexico, DF. One of the deserters who founded the cartel of Los Zetas was killed in a confrontation in which five other people were killed, including one soldier, and that took place in Reynosa, a town in the state of Tamaulipas and near the city of Tijuana McAllen, Texas, authorities reported.

A state official confirmed that one of the armed individuals who were killed on Friday was Galindo Mellado Cross The Mellado or Z-9.

Mellado was one of the founders of this cartel, who was born with about thirty members of the former Mexican special forces and was formed as the military arm of the Gulf Cartel until it is separated from this group.

Now Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel maintains a territorial struggle, especially in the state of Tamaulipas, east of the border with the United States.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said Mellado had escaped from two penalties in Tamaulipas, where he was imprisoned accused of rape, armed robbery, assault, murder and crimes against the health, but added that he was no longer command positions within the Los Zetas.

The government of Tamaulipas had informed on Friday in a statement several clashes in the city of Reynosa, in which he lost his life a soldier and five armed men, but did not identify any of the dejected.

Tamaulipas is one of Mexico's most violent states. Despite the fact that the violence subsided a bit in 2012, escalated in the last few weeks.

Confirmed by British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) below:



Mexican security officials say one of the founders of the Zetas drug cartel has been killed in a gun battle in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas.

Galindo Mellado Cruz is accused of being one of the original members of the Zetas, which first emerged as a group of enforcers for the Gulf cartel.

The two groups later split and became bitter rivals, their fights accounting for much of the violence in the area.

He is believed to be among five gunmen shot dead by the army on Friday.

A Tamaulipas state official told the Associated Press news agency that while Mellado no longer held a command position within the Zetas, he had been one of the 30 ex-special forces members to found the group.

Powerful adversaries

Analysts say the Zetas now control more territory than any other criminal gang in Mexico.

They are infamous for their extremely violent methods, routinely decapitating rivals and hanging their bodies from bridges.

The war between the Zetas and their former paymasters, the Gulf cartel, has turned Tamaulipas into one of Mexico's most violent states.

Mellado was on the run after escaping from prison where he had been jailed after being accused of armed robbery, rape and murder, the official said.

He was killed in a raid on his hideout in the city of Reynosa along with four other armed men. One soldier also died in the fire fight.

It is not clear how the security forces tracked him down.
The security forces have recently landed a series of heavy blows against Mexico's drug cartels.

The arrest of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman was a big coup for Mexico's security forces

Earlier this year, they arrested the world's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. And last year they killed the leader of the Zetas, Miguel Angel Trevino.

But a number of high-ranking security officials have also been killed, including the Tamaulipas state intelligence chief, who was shot dead along with his bodyguards in Reynosa last week.