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The Labastida Killing
Igor Labastida Calderon and four other federal agents came under attack June 26 while they were ordering lunch at Anita’s Kitchen in Mexico City’s Argentina Antigua neighborhood. Labastida and one of his personal bodyguards, federal agent Jose Maria Ochoa, were both killed in the attack. Three other federal agents were injured, and reportedly are in stable condition.
Labastida was the acting commander of the traffic and contraband division in Mexico’s Federal Preventive Police, and had recently spearheaded a campaign of seizures of pirated goods in the Tepito neighborhood, including one operation that seized more than 37 tons of Chinese pirated goods in two days. The Tepito neighborhood has long been known for its lawless atmosphere and also as a place to buy anything illegal, from RPGs to pirated DVDs. The Tepito neighborhood is also known for its cartel activity, specifically that of the Beltran Leyva group. The majority of the subjects arrested for the murder of Edgar Millan Gomez and Roberto Velasco were reportedly from the Tepito neighborhood and received their orders to carry out the hits from Beltran Leyva. Earlier, an improvised explosive device that detonated Feb. 15 two blocks from a Mexico City police building eventually was traced to the so-called Tepito cartel.
The Mexican government has retracted its initial statement that Labastida was involved in the Millan Gomez murder investigations, and has not officially accused any individual or group for the Labastida killing. In light of recent assassinations and attacks on federal police officials in Mexico City that have been connected to cartels and the Tepito neighborhood, however, it is likely that the Beltran Leyva group and a Tepito proxy were involved in Labastida’s killing. The tactics of the Labastida hit were much bolder than prior attacks, further demonstrating that the cartels can undermine the State security apparatus — therefore increasing the political pressure on the Calderon administration to provide adequate security in Mexico City.
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