Gang violence and retribution in Nuevo León

Two days after Mauricio Fernández, the outspoken PAN mayor of the Monterrey suburb of San Pedro Garza García, implicitly took credit for the execution of a notorious kidnapper, the police chief of the neighboring town of García was ambushed and murdered along with four of his bodyguards. General (ret.) Juan Arturo Esparza García had only been on the job four days when he was gunned down while responding to a report that gunmen were approaching the mayor’s home. Over the weekend, the Nuevo León authorities arrested an alleged hitman for Los Zetas, the paramilitary wing of the Gulf Cartel, for the Esparza killing. (Universal 11/4, 11/9)