Diego Says Murder of DEA Agents "Mistake"
2011-08-05
Posted by: badanov
By Chris Covert
José Antonio Acosta Hernandez AKA El Diego, the captured number two man of La Linea said in a video taped confession that the 2009 murders of two US drug agents was a mistake based on incorrect information he had at the time.
Acosta Hernandez said the move was intended to eliminate rival police forces sympathetic to the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Acosta Hernandez who was arrested last Friday by a special team of Policia Federeal agents in a raid at a Chihuahua, Chihuahua residence, admitted planning the July 16hth car bomb attack which killed four including a Mexican Federal agent in Juarez.
To read the Rantburg report on the July 16th, 2010 car bomb attack in Juarez, click here and here
Acosta Hernandez is currently in Mexico City and has been ordered to preventative detention for 40 days. Preventative detention, colloquially known as rooting, is a formal legal request to hold a person without bail for charge and trial until an investigation is included. Rooting can be for anywhere from 30 to 180 days and is used against individuals charged with serious crimes.
According to Mexican news sources, Acosta Hernandez has claimed responsibility for 1,500 murders in Chihuahua state since 2007, when he went to work for the Juarez cartel after serving in he Chihuahua state attorney general's office.
Acosta Hernandez also said he ordered the execution of the 15 young people in Salvarcar Villas colony in Juarez on January 10th, 2010 because he suspected members of rival cartel Sinaloa may be at the same location.
The confession was released in two videos by the Policia Federal Wednesday. In the background the viewer can hear the disguised voice of an interviewer ask Acosta Hernandez about several specific crimes, including last year's car bomb.
Acosta Hernandez also said a car bomb placed in Juarez September 12th failed to detonate. A corpse was placed in the car to lure federal agents to the location, but a nearby member of La Linea observing the approach of police could not detonate the bomb. The bomb used the same explosives used in the earlier bomb, Tovex, which is a commercial dynamite in common use in Mexico by mining companies and by PEMEX, the state run petroleum enterprise.
To read the Rantburg report on the attempted car bomb attack last September, 2010, click here
At the Blog del Narco several commenters remarked that details of the car bomb were redacted from the video, although no reason was given as to why and what information was redacted.