Mexican authorities confirmed on Sunday that they captured Juan Manuel Rodríguez García, also known as "Juan Perros", one of the main leaders of the Gulf cartel.
According to Reuters, Rodríguez García was arrested in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. Mexico's Commissioner of Public Safety, Monte Alejandro Rubido, announced the capture of the cartel leader on Sunday during a press conference in the Federal District.
At the moment of his capture, Rodríguez García was one o fthe 12 most wanted criminals in Mexico and was considered to be one of the bosses of the Gulf Cartel in the border state of Tamaulipas, in the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
"There is proof that this individual ordered the mass kidnappings of undocumented immigrants, who he forced to work for his group, or murder them if they refused," said Rubido on Saturday during the press conference with the media, according to Reuters.
The arrest, in the words of the Mexican official, is a part of the new actions taken as a part of the New Phase of the security strategy for the state of Tamaulipas, one of the Mexican states most affected by drug trafficking violence.
39-year-old Rodríguez García, who is also accused of being one of the main promoters of violence in Tamaulipas, took the leadership of a faction of the Gulf cartel after the arrest of Mario Armando Ramírez Treviño last year, according to Univisión.
García's leadership, however, was not acknowledged by other factions of the cartel, which unleashed bloody clashes throughout Tamaulipas, a state in which he ordered the assassination of cartel leaders who did not agree with him.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Rodríguez García peacefully surrendered when he was located along with his wife in a hotel in San Pedro Garza, a city in the state of Nuevo León.
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