The Washington Post - USA (2020-08-03)

MONDAY, AUGUST 3 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 A

tacks in Kabul in which gunmen

stormed buildings and held off

security forces for hours, but none

as complex as Sunday’s prison

raid.

Jalalabad’s central prison holds

Islamic State-linked fighters as

well as those linked to the Taliban,

but the most senior fighters from

both groups are held in prisons in

Kabul.

Until the attack Sunday, the

cease-fire announced by the Tali-

ban to mark the Muslim holiday of

Eid had largely quelled violence

across Afghanistan. A handful of

low-level security incidents were

reported nationwide but the

cease-fire was largely respected.

The Islamic State was not a

party to the cease-fire, and Sun-

day’s attack would probably not

constitute a violation of the truce.

But the prison raid did highlight

the kind of violence that could

continue in Afghanistan despite a

peace deal with the Taliban.

Before Eid, the Afghan govern-

ment announced it would release

5,000 prisoners as the Taliban

demanded before talks could be-

gin. But the sides remain at odds

over who should be included in

the 5,000. Taliban officials are

asking for 100 fighters linked to

deadly high-profile attacks to be

released, a m ove strongly opposed

by government officials and inter-

national human rights organiza-

tions.

[email protected]

BY KEVIN SIEFF

mexico city — Mexican author-
ities on Sunday arrested José
Antonio Yépez Ortiz, one of the
country’s most wanted criminals,
whose reign helped transform
one of Mexico’s most peaceful
states into its deadliest.
Yépez Ortiz, known as “El
Marro” — the Sledgehammer —
was the leader of the Santa Rosa
de Lima cartel, a group based in
the central state of Guanajuato
that has specialized in oil theft,
stealing billions of dollars from
the country’s pipelines and refin-
eries in recent years. As the group
rose to prominence, Yépez Ortiz
found himself cornered — pur-
sued by both the Mexican govern-
ment, which arrested his mother
and sister, and the rival Jalisco

New Generation cartel, which

killed hundreds of his foot sol-

diers.

Guanajuato state Gov. Diego

Sinhué Rodríguez Vallejo said

the operation that led to Yépez

Ortiz’s detention Sunday morn-

ing was conducted by both state

and federal law enforcement,

and that a kidnapped business

executive also had been freed.

Authorities released a photo of

Yépez Ortiz wearing a Puma

windbreaker and jeans, flanked

by soldiers and police. Mexico’s

minister of security and public

safety, Alfonso Durazo, said Yè-

pez Ortiz would be charged with

oil theft and organized crime.

Under Mexican President An-

drés Manuel López Obrador, the

government has struggled to ar-

ticulate a coherent security strat-

egy, even as the homicide rate has

soared. López Obrador took of-

fice in 2018 after campaigning on

a strategy he called abrazos, no

balazos — “hugs, not bullets.” He

said he would discourage young

people from pursuing criminal

activity by investing in educa-

tion, social programs and job

development — suggesting that

he would not wage war on the

country’s cartel leaders.

Last year, the Mexican army

staged an operation in the city of

Culiacán aimed at arresting Ovi-

dio Guzmán, the son of former

Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El

Chapo” Guzmán, who is impris-

oned in the United States. But

soon after soldiers detained the

younger Guzmán, cartel gunmen

filled the streets of the city, and

he was released to avoid more

violence.

This year, a video circulated of

López Obrador greeting the

mother of El Chapo during a visit

to Sinaloa. The president called

her “an elderly woman that de-

serves my respect, regardless of

who her son is.”

In detaining Yépez Ortiz, the

Mexican government has proved

its willingness to pursue at least

one cartel leader — but it has

chosen perhaps the country’s

most vulnerable kingpin, whose

power was far more localized

than other criminal leaders.

That power also appeared to

be waning. In June, after the

arrest of his mother and sister,

Yépez Ortiz released an emotion-

al video in which he teared up

while thanking his supporters

and threatening his rivals.

Days later, members of the

Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel were

accused in an attack on a drug

rehabilitation center in the city

that killed 28 people. That attack,

and dozens of others, are be-

lieved to have been part of the

bloody turf war between Yépez

Ortiz and the rapidly growing

Jalisco New Generation cartel.

For the Jalisco cartel’s leader,

Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera

Cervantes, Guanajuato is an im-

portant part of the drug traffick-

ing route to the U.S. border. Some

analysts believe Oseguera Cer-

vantes attempted to reach a de-

tente with Yépez Ortiz in 2017,

and Yépez Ortiz’s reported rejec-

tion of the overture prompted the

conflict.

As the organizations fight for

control of Guanajuato, home to

the tourist and expatriate en-

clave of San Miguel de Allende

and international automotive

factories, the state has been

transformed by violence. In the

first half of 2020, the state suf-

fered 2,293 killings. It now ac-

counts for between 15 and 18 per-

cent of the country’s homicides,

López Obrador told reporters in

June.

The detention of Yépez Ortiz

could clear the way for the Jalisco

cartel’s takeover of Guanajuato.

Mexican officials have acknowl-

edged that when a single cartel

controls trafficking routes, vio-

lence typically decreases. But the

Jalisco cartel, which allegedly

hired gunmen to try to assassi-

nate Mexico City’s police chief in

June, is seen as a growing threat.

[email protected]

Mexico arrests c hief of cartel linked to o il theft in n ation’s deadliest state

out by a Taliban splinter group to

upset the push for direct peace

talks. The concern touches on

questions surrounding unity

within the Taliban movement and

the ability of Taliban political

leadership in Qatar to control the

group’s fighters on the ground.

Both issues are becoming increas-

ingly important in the lead-up to

peace talks.

The of ficials spoke on the con-

dition of anonymity because they

were not authorized to brief the

media.

The Islamic State has stepped

up recruiting from within the

most extreme ranks of Taliban

fighters. Afghanistan’s Islamic

State offshoot has claimed re-

sponsibility for several recent at-

GHULAMULLAH HABIBI/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

An Afghan man injured in a prison attack is moved to a hospital in Jalalabad. At least 24 people were

injured and three were killed in an initial car bombing outside the jail, the Associated Press reported.

BY SHARIF HASSAN

AND SUSANNAH GEORGE

kabul — The Islamic State
claimed responsibility for storm-
ing a major prison in eastern Af-
ghanistan on Sunday in a surprise
attack that freed prisoners.
The raid began with a car bomb
at one of the prison’s gates, allow-
ing gunmen to move into the com-
plex in central Jalalabad. Afghan
special forces were dispatched to
the scene, where they battled the
militants for hours. Early Monday,
the raid was still continuing, and
local media outlets reported that
hundreds of inmates had escaped.
Shortly after the raid began, the
Taliban tweeted a brief statement
denying responsibility.
The attack occurred just hours
before a three-day cease-fire be-
tween the Taliban and Afghan
government forces was set to ex-
pire. The truce was intended as a

confidence-building measure to

aid in the push for direct peace

talks. Negotiations have been de-

layed for months following the

signing of the U.S.-Taliban peace

deal by an uptick in violence and a

controversial prisoner swap.

Several prisoners escaped the

complex, but “a number” of them

were quickly taken back into cus-

tody by police, Nangahar govern-

ment spokesman Attaullah Khog-

yani said. He declined to disclose

specific numbers.

At least three people were

killed and 24 wounded in the

initial car bomb attack, the Asso-

ciated Press reported. Afghan offi-

cials did not release information

on casualties among security forc-

es or prisoners.

Although the Taliban denied

involvement, the complex nature

of the attack mirrored past Tali-

ban assaults on other prisons in

Afghanistan. A Taliban raid on a

prison in Ghazni in 2015 freed

more than 350 prisoners. That

attack, too, began with a car bomb

that breached the complex’s pe-

rimeter before gunmen stormed

the buildings.

A fghan security officials said

the attack could have been carried

Before Afghan-Taliban

truce ends, jail is raided

Islamic State claims

responsibility for a ttack

a t Jalalabad prison

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