Fugitive linked to Zetas captured in Roma

HIDALGO — The U.S. Border Patrol turned over a fugitive believed to have ties to a powerful Mexican paramilitary group to agents in that country Thursday, federal authorities said.

Miguel Angel Hernandez Barrón was wanted for deserting the army and separate gun charges, said Rey-nosa-based Justo Ayala Santos, with the Instituto Nacional de Migración, a federal immigration agency.

Hernandez Barrón is believed to be the brother of Victor Manuel Hernandez Barrón, a top member of the Zetas and the purported personal bodyguard of alleged Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas, authorities said.

Federal agents detained Miguel Hernandez Barrón on Wednesday in Roma after receiving a tip that he was living in the country illegally.

But during the day and a half that they held him in the United States, agents with the U.S. Border Patrol, the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not officially confirm his capture.

Even after his transfer to Mexico on Thursday, the agencies would only say that a Mexican fugitive had been detained and handed over to authorities.

But video footage from the transfer at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge shows a man signing the name Miguel Hernandez Barrón on immigration paperwork while guarded by heavily armed Mexican agents.

ZETAS INVOLVEMENT

Although Mexican authorities would not confirm whether or not he is a suspected member of the Zetas, the Hernandez Barrón family has had a long history of involvement with the group.

Composed of former police and military officers, the Zetas have long served as the strong arm of the Tamaulipas-based Gulf Cartel, operating under the personal control of alleged kingpin Cárdenas.

In recent years, they have been blamed for escalating drug violence along the Texas-Mexico border and even further north.

Victor Hernandez Barrón, Cárdenas’ purported bodyguard, is currently serving prison time in Mexico on charges of organized crime and possession of weapons intended only for Army personnel.

Also known as “Flander II,” he guarded the Gulf Cartel chief from March 2001 until Victor Hernandez Barrón was arrested two years later in Matamoros, according to the Procuraduría General de la Republica (PGR), the Mexican equivalent of the attorney general’s office.

Cárdenas, who was extradited to the United States in January, awaits trial in U.S. District Court on charges of organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering and assaults on federal agents.

A most-wanted list maintained by the PGR also lists a Raúl Hernandez Barrón, known as “Flander I.”

But U.S. and Mexican authorities, who spoke on a condition of anonymity because they were not author-ized to discuss the arrest, could not confirm that the man handed over Thursday had any relation to that suspect.

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Monitor staff writer Andres R. Martinez contributed to this report.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4437.