Mexican Drug Cartel May Be Linked to 3 U.S. Dead

Three of the nine bodies of alleged drug-trafficking victims exhumed from clandestine graves on a Mexican border ranch are those of Americans, authorities said Thursday.

The remains were identified as those of Jesus Alonso Provencio, Marcelo Javier Aguilar Molina and Guillermo Jesus Rojo, said Trinidad Larrieta, an authority with the Mexican attorney general’s specialized unit against organized crime.

The three were killed between April and May 1995, and died of stab wounds, Larrieta said.

Three other victims were Mexican, and were identified as Raul Alarcon Sanchez, Ignacio del Real Fierro and Antonio Tarazon Navarro. The remaining three have not yet been identified. The exhumation and identification of the bodies was conducted by the FBI.

U.S. and Mexican authorities working jointly found nine bodies in clandestine graves situated on three ranches in different parts of Ciudad Juarez, a city across the border from El Paso, Texas, that has been dominated by the drug cartel of the Carrillo Fuentes family.

The two-month investigation began Nov. 29, 1999, with 65 FBI agents and 600 Mexican military and federal judicial police, after a U.S. government informant told authorities as many as 100 bodies might be found at the sites.

The Carrillo Fuentes cartel is considered to be one of the most powerful in Mexico. It was headed by Amado Carrillo Fuentes until his death in July 1997 and continues operating under the direction of other family members.

Acting against another infamous Mexico drug organization on Thursday, a judge turned over for trial one of the top lieutenants of the Tijuana-based cartel run by the Arellano Felix brothers.

Ismael Higuera Guerrero is charged with drug trafficking and the illicit use of airstrips for drug trafficking. He also is a suspect in the aggravated homicide of a Federal Judicial Police commander who attempted to arrest him several years ago, said officials from the Mexican attorney general’s office.

Higuera also is wanted in the United States for his alleged activities with the Tijuana cartel. The U.S. Embassy has presented an extradition request to Mexican authorities.

The Arellano Felix cartel is also considered to be one of the largest and most violent drug groups in Mexico.