The arrest gave Mexican President Felipe Calderon a much needed victory, just ahead of its annual state-of-the union address Wednesday.
Mr. Valdez, who was born in Texas and dubbed the "Barbie" by her white skin, was arrested Monday outside Mexico City. He is the third major trafficking suspect to be taken in the last eight months. The army killed Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, an alleged leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, in an operation in July in Jalisco. In December, Arturo Beltran Leyva, founder of a group that allegedly Valdez is trying to control, was killed by Mexican marines.
The catch is already being considered by the Calderon administration as a success. "Valdez Villarreal's capture is a high impact blow against organized crime, national security spokesman Alejandro Poire, said in an e-mailed statement on Monday night.
Mr. Poire said the capture shows that the federal government office in the area of public security and intelligence operations are capable of. He said that the pursuit of suspected drug lord was conducted through six Mexican states.
The government says Valdez, 37, is a big player in the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, and that their power has grown since the founding of the group of Arturo Beltran Leyva was murdered last year. The group is suspected of being behind the escalating violence in the central state of Mexico, what type of beheadings and violence between gangs in the capital region, which were confined to border cities hundreds of miles away.
Poire Valdez called a "highly dangerous criminal" who made connections with groups in Central and South America for smuggling drugs into the U.S., where he is wanted. U.S. $ 2,000,000 was offered for his capture after a prosecution alleged he had smuggled thousands of kilos of cocaine in the U.S..
The capture comes amid a series of recent setbacks for the Calderón administration, including the killing of two mayors, a slaughter of 72 migrants, and car bombs and attacks against journalists continued.
On Monday, 3,200 federal police officers were sacked for alleged corruption and other crimes, another blow to an administration trying to rebuild the federal police force and instill public confidence in the institution.
But it is unclear whether the catch was put down the violence or lead to an increase in the short term. More than 28,000 people have been killed since Calderon took office nearly four years ago, in part, according to the government, as pressure has made the drug gangs to divide and fight each other.
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