CAPTURED!
The reports have been rolling in all week on the capture of prominent cartel and gang leaders. We salute all those courageous law enforcement and military that successfully captured and arrested these bad guys; but, most of all, we give thanks to our Heavenly Father, who has heard and answered our prayers!

•    Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, known as "El Coss," leader of the Gulf drug cartel, was arrested Wednesday evening in the Gulf port of Tampico. Sanchez controls some of the most valuable and violently contested smuggling routes along the U.S. border. His capture is a major victory in the military battle against drug trafficking, but could open a power vacuum and intensify a struggle south of the Texas border in northeast Mexico, a region that has seen some of the most horrific violence in the country's six-year war among law-enforcement and rival gangs.
•    The Mexican navy arrested Mario "El Gordo" Cardenas Guillen, a presumed senior  member of the Gulf cartel, on Sept. 3 in Altamira, Tamaulipas state. Mario Cardenas Guillen is the brother of former Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen.
•    On Sept. 2, Mexican federal police arrested David "El Comandante Diablo" Rosales Guzman, alleged Gulf cartel plaza boss, in Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon state, a city and municipality of the Greater Monterrey Metropolitan area. Rosales Guzman is accused of ordering several attacks on bars as well as kidnappings that left at least 19 dead in Monterrey in August.
•    Three suspected Hezbollah operatives were arrested in Merida, Mexico, on Sunday, September 9th. Rafik Mohammad al-Laboun is a US citizen and was extradited to the American authorities soon after his arrest by Mexican security forces. Laboun was wanted by the US prior to his arrest. The two other Hezbollah members, Justin Yasser Safa from Belize, and George Abdalah Elders, remained in Mexican custody.
•    A high-level member of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel was arrested by the Federal Police, the Public Safety Secretariat said. Adelmo Niebla Gonzalez was captured last Thursday in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa. Investigators have determined that Niebla Gonzalez smuggled marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin into the United States via the Arizona desert. He was also involved in weapons trafficking into Mexico.
•    Three brothers suspected of being leaders of the Jalisco Nueva Generación drug cartel were captured by Mexico's military. Ramon, Rafael and Jesus Alvarez Ayala were arrested last Thursday in a simultaneous operation staged by the army and federal police in the western cities of Guadalajara and Zapopan. Ramon Alvarez Ayala is suspected of being the cartel's No. 2 man, while Rafael Alvarez Ayala is a top member of the drug trafficking organization. Ramon Alvarez Ayala was "the main associate and right-hand man" of top cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, and he was in charge of overseeing the gang's expansion into the central states of Guanajuato and Michoacán.
•    Mexican police have captured Ramiro Pozos Gonzalez, a founding member and leader of La Resistencia drug gang based in western Mexico. La Resistencia operates in Mexico City and the states of Jalisco, Michoacán and Mexico. La Resistencia was created in 2010 by former members of the Gulf, La Familia and Milenio drug cartels and later formed an alliance with the brutal Zetas drug cartel.
•    Mexican State police have captured Felipe De Jesús Gastélum Castro, aka: "El Vaquero or "El Felipillo", wanted in the killings of several police officers. He is believed to be involved in the executions of over 40 people.

PRAY:
•    Lord, we stand in awe of your power and might. We thank you for hearing our prayers and for guiding the authorities in capturing these violent men.
•    Father God, in our role as intercessors (standing in the gap), we continue to pray for the dismantling of all drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). We ask You to shine Your light into the dark world of these drug and human traffickers, exposing where they are hiding. Mighty God, give law enforcement the needed insight and direction to capture all DTO members in Mexico and in the USA.
•    We call upon You, Mighty God, to break through in this violent war on humanity and bring an end to these criminal organizations. Heal our land and restore godliness, righteousness and justice to Mexico and the USA.
•    We ask for Your protection, Merciful God, upon all who are fighting to dismantle the DTOs and murderous gangs.

Mexican Marines have killed Heriberto Lazcano, the founding leader of the extremely violent Zetas drug cartel.
 
Killed in a gunfight in a small village in the northern state of Coahuila on Sunday afternoon, Lazcano, also known as "El Lazca" or "Z-3," was one of Mexico's most-wanted men. Only Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel would represent a bigger prize to the Mexican government.
 
Just hours after he was killed, a masked, armed group snatched Lazcano's body and that of another Zetas member from the funeral parlor. It appeared the military was unaware it had killed Lazcano until his corpse was stolen. Authorities had already taken fingerprints and photographs of the body and later confirmed it was, indeed, Lazcano. [1]  
 
Lazcano, alias "The Executioner," was the highest profile drug lord to be killed or captured in a military offensive launched since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006.
 
Lazcano's death was a double blow to the Zetas criminal organization. Senior Zetas plaza boss Ivan Velazquez, also known as "El Taliban" or "Z-50" was captured last weekend. Since 2009, government troops have caught or killed more than 20 major drug lords, claiming three of the "most wanted" bosses in the past month alone. [2]  
 
The Zetas are considered one of the two most powerful drug gangs in Mexico and have carried out some of the worst atrocities in a drug war that has killed about 60,000 people during Calderon's term. [3] 
Under Lazcano's leadership, the Zetas grew into a gang of more than 10,000 gunmen with operations stretching from the Rio Grande to deep Central America. [4] 
This is evidence that God is hearing and answering our prayers for the success of President Calderon's "war on drugs" and for the safety of our southwest border.
 
LET'S PRAY:
    Father, we ask for President Calderon's continued success in the drug war during the closing days of his presidency. We ask You to assist Mexico's military in striking crippling blows to the cartels, including the swift capture of Sinaloa Drug Lord "El Chapo" Guzman.
    Thank you for hearing our prayers and shaking the foundations of the brutal Zetas cartel. We ask you to hinder the Zetas from rallying and regrouping.
    We stand against violence and the death of the innocent that might ensue in a power struggle in the aftermath of Lazcono's death.
We pray for those who are deeply imbedded in the criminal activities of the drug cartels. We know that You take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. (Ez 33:11).