step. all right, michelle sigona, please keep us posteposted. you got it. one of mexico s most-want e fugitives is in police custody today. the founding member of the zetas drug gang was caught in mexico city in a suburb of that city without a single shot fired. among several charges, authorities say aguilera was involved in the shooting death of a u.s. customs agent. the arrest follows a travel warning over the holiday weekend urging americans not to travel to mexico. he was allegedly planning to rob and extort u.s. citizens there. we re joined by laura carlson with america s program for the center of international policy. thank you so much for joining us. thank you, jeff. the zetas are blamed for much of 35,000 cartel-related deaths around the country since 2006. how damaging is this arrest to zetas cartel?
it s very difficult to know. if jesus is really the person they say he is, which is the third in the command of the zetas, one of the most ruthless gangs in mexico, and also responsible for the death of the u.s. customs agent, then it s obviously to be celebrated that he will be put behind bars. but when you look at it as supposedly a major success in the drug war which both the u.s. and the mexican governments are touting, there you see some serious contradictions. first of all, it s not that clear that he ll actually be put behind bars because the prosecution rate in mexico for even high-profile cases is extremely low. there s corruption in the judicial system. there s a lack of efficiency. and so we have only 2% of cases being successfully prosecuted. what does this mean for americans who are traveling to mexico? well, what we saw from the alert is that it was probably exaggerated.
million warrant on him. he is suspected of plotting the ambush that left u.s. customs agent zilpada dead. talk about a heavy packer. this guy with his hand covering his face had his girlfriend stuff him in the suitcase to try to escape from a mexican prison after a conjugal visit. it did not work. conjugal visit worked but he didn t get out. she he s under arrest. she illegally possessed him on a rollaway luggage cart. and prayer rang out at an independence day protest at the houston national cemetery. in jesus name, amen. amen! thousands showed up because they re unhappy with the cemetery s director being sued for the second time over claims she tried to censor religious prayers during burial services. she needs to be removed. taxpayers pay her salary and i
valid felony charge would appli to anwar al-awlaki. that was where in u.n. of 2002 issued bit u.s. attorney s office in denver the warrant states al-awlaki know hingly and unlawfully made a false statement in an appearance ple quaiks for a port. the fbi asked former customs agent david kane for help. i was requested to assist their investigation of putting a record in our computer database about al-awlaki. what can you tell us, i think you are referring to the text system? it serves a lot of different purposes. in this case it was the subject record that was put in for al-awlaki. the fbi had asked us to put the record in simply because they had a warrant for his arrest and wanted to make sure that upon arrival in the united states they would be notified and he would be arrest.
uka had link to islamic fundamental list group in germany but so far no information linking him to the terror alerts. bret: more on this with the panel. thank you. mexico s president remains vehemently opposed to u.s. agents carrying weapons in his country. despite murder of american customs agent three weeks ago. felipe calderon met with president obama at the white house today. white house correspondent wendell goler has that story. reporter: for years, mexico leaders complained that u.s. guns and money enable the drug war south of the border. but less than three weeks after one of those guns claimed one of our own, immigration custom enforcement agent zappatta, president obama conceded the problem is a shared one. the battle that president felipe calderon is fighting inside of mexico is not just his battle. it is also ours. we have to take responsibility as he is taking responsibility. reporter: more than 15,000 deaths were blamed on mexico s drug war last year, twice as m