3 Mexico army generals accused of helping narcotics gangs

MEXICO CITY — In what could prove the biggest scandal to hit Mexico's military since it was deployed against gangsters five years ago, federal prosecutors are investigating three army generals suspected of colluding with one or more of the country's narcotics gangs.

The army turned over retired Gen. Tomas Angeles, a former deputy defense minister, and Brig. Gen. Robert Dawe to the attorney general's office late Tuesday. They were ordered held for 40 days pending investigation into allegations that they worked clandestinely for the Beltran Leyva criminal organization. Prosecutors then announced the detention of retired Gen. Ricardo Escorcia late Thursday.

It's unclear what gang Escorcia is suspected of aiding, though before his retirement two years ago he commanded the army units based in Cuernavaca, a Beltran Leyva stronghold. At the time of his arrest, Dawe was serving as chief of staff of the army's detachment in the Pacific Coast state of Colima.

Tied to La Barbie

The investigation of the generals reportedly was spurred by informants' testimony linked to the August 2010 arrest of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, the Laredo native known as La Barbie who served as the Beltran Leyva's top enforcer.

Accusations of political motivation - by the generals' wives, lawyers and others - have been raised because of prosecutors' nearly two-year delay in acting on the informant's testimony and because the arrests come less than six weeks ahead of Mexico's presidential elections.

The attorney general's office stressed that the arrests "lack political connotations or have any relation to the ongoing political campaigns or the candidates."

Army officers, including generals, have been arrested before for collusion with gangsters. Rival gangs have long accused the army of favoring gangs in the Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa, including the Beltran Leyvas.

But the accusations against Angeles have raised eyebrows because of his rank, career trajectory and connections. Named deputy defense secretary by President Felipe Calderon upon taking office in December 2006, Angeles served two tours as Mexico's defense attache in Washington and has been director of Mexico's equivalent of West Point.

High-ranking arrest

Just days before his arrest, Angeles had participated in a a national security conference organized by supporters of presidential front-runner Enrique Peña Nieto, candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. Peña's campaign quickly distanced itself from Angeles, pointing out that he was one of dozens of experts participating in the forum and was not a close advisor to the candidate.

Angeles is the highest ranking army officer arrested since Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, who had served as Mexico's anti-narcotics czar under the PRI's last presidency in the mid-1990s.

Gutierrez won praise from Washington as a tough policemen shortly before his 1997 arrest and conviction for protecting the late Amado Carrillo Fuentes, then head of the narcotics gang based in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso. The Beltran Leyva gang has been feuding with that of fellow Sinaloa trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, since their alliance collapsed in 2008.

dudley.althaus@chron.com