Key Mexican Drug Figure Killed

JOSE DE CORDOBA

MEXICO CITY—The no. 2 man in Mexico's Gulf Cartel was killed in a day-long battle with Mexican security forces, Mexican officials said Friday night.

Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillen, 48, known as Tony Tormenta and three other alleged members of the Gulf Cartel, were killed in the border city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, after a day-long battle with Navy special forces and army soldiers, officials said. Two members of the navy's special forces were also killed, said Alejandro Poiré, Mexico's spokesman for security affairs in a brief statement.

This undated photo, downloaded from the website of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, shows alleged Mexico's Gulf drug cartel leader Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen.

"This is a significant step in the destruction of the criminal bands which have done so much damage to our country," said Mr. Poiré. He said the death of Mr. Cardenas Guillen, the brother of cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who is in prison in the U.S., was the result of intelligence operations which had been ongoing for some time. The U.S. had a $5 million reward for information leading to Mr. Cardenas Guillen's arrest. He was indicted in 2008 for drug trafficking multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana and was on the list of most wanted Mexican fugitives.

The Gulf Cartel's top leader, Jorge Eduardo Costilla, known as "El Coss," remains at large.

Since the beginning of the year, the Gulf Cartel has been fighting a bloody turf war with its former enforcers, known as the Zetas, who broke aware in December of 2009. The jump in violence has terrorized the state of Tamaulipas and spilled across to the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon, whose capital, Monterrey, is Mexico's business capital and wealthiest city. More than 1,300 people have died in the fighting between the two organized crime groups.

Shooting between cartel gunmen and Mexican troops erupted early Friday in Matamoros, and continued throughout the day. A reporter for a local Matamoros newspaper was killed in the crossfire. On the U.S. side of the border, the University of Texas at Brownsville closed early, and sent students home.

The death of Mr. Guillen is the latest blow to the leaders of Mexico's powerful drug cartels in the last 12 months. Since December, a half dozen drug lords have been killed or captured by Mexican security forces. More than 30,000 Mexicans have died in drug related violence since President Felipe Calderon sent more than 45,000 troops to win back control of large areas of Mexico controlled by the country's drug lords. Mr. Calderon sent the troops out shortly after assuming office in December of 2006.