Mexican army kills 19, arrests cartel leader

The Mexican military captured a high-ranking leader in the Pacific Cartel on Monday in a shootout that killed 19 cartel members, according to Mexico’s Ministry of National Defense. Mexican soldiers detained Edwin Antonio, also known as El Max, outside of Culiacán, in the state of Sinaloa. Antonio dealt illegal weapons and often engaged in violent acts, the government said.

What happened? Authorities showed up to arrest Antonio and found themselves in a firefight with roughly 30 cartel members, the defense ministry said. Mexican soldiers killed roughly two-thirds of them. The remainder managed to escape. Authorities nabbed several machine guns, rifles, handguns, vehicles, tactical vests and helmets from the scene.

Was this raid part of a larger agenda? The Mexican military was working in lockstep with the larger Mexican government to inhibit the operations of organized criminal groups in the country, the defense ministry said. More specifically, the raid was part of a larger 100-day campaign to shut down cartel operations across the country, the military explained.

Dig deeper: Read Elizabeth Moeller’s report in The Sift about how the U.S. government recently placed sanctions on several affiliates of Mexican drug cartels.