Drug cartel accusations against ‘El Blindado’

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Baja California Atty. Gen. Antonio Martinez Luna has had better months.

An alleged drug cartel hit man, in a videotaped interrogation posted on a Tijuana newspaper website in early May, accused Martinez Luna of plotting with the Sinaloa drug cartel to crush the Arellano-Felix organized crime family.

The accusations were made by Jose Ramon Velasquez Molina, 50, who was found beaten to death in Mexicali a few days before the video surfaced. Martinez Luna has dismissed the accusations, saying Velasquez was tortured by his captors into making the statements.

But federal authorities are investigating, and the influential Tijuana newspaper, Zeta, which broke the story and featured the videotape on its website, has called for the attorney general to step down.

Martinez Luna’s resignation, however, may not be enough for the Arellano-Felix drug cartel.

In a video that appeared on YouTube.com earlier this month, a Mexican Norteno band sings a death threat against the attorney general, saying the Tijuana criminal organization wants him dead, according to Zeta.

If Martinez Luna’s nickname is any indication, that won’t be too easy. He is supposedly referred to in the criminal underworld as “El Blindado” -- the armored one, in reference to the armored cars in which he travels.

Posted by Richard Marosi in San Diego