Apparent "confusion" among members of the Zetas led to the fatal attack on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Mexico last week, army officials said Wednesday night.
Mexican army soldiers arrested six suspected members of the Zetas for their alleged participation in the attack on two ICE special agents Feb. 15 in San Luis Potosi state.
Slain in the attack was Brownsville native Jaime Zapata, who was laid to rest on Tuesday.
In a news conference broadcast on Milenio Television, defense ministry spokesman Col. Ricardo Trevilla said the attack on Zapata and Special Agent Victor Avila, who was shot twice in the leg, came after apparent "confusion" among the Zetas who carried out the attack.
Displayed at the news conference were six suspected members of the Zetas, including the cell's alleged ringleader, Julian Zapata Espinoza, known as El Piolin, or "Tweety Bird."
Soldiers also arrested five other suspected Zeta gunmen, including a Honduran national. Three women -- including Zapata's wife -- were also found during raids at four houses Wednesday in San Luis Potosi, the state capital near where the ICE agents fell under attack.
It remains unclear whether Avila has positively identified any of the suspects on display during the Wednesday night news conference in Mexico City.
Trevilla said military intelligence personnel identified Zapata as the head of a local Zeta cell during separate raids last December.
The ICE agents were traveling in an armored Chevrolet Suburban with U.S. diplomatic plates in rural San Luis Potosi state Feb. 15 when they were apparently chased and ambushed by two vehicles driven by suspected Zeta members. Large SUVs are frequently targeted and used by Mexican drug cartels.
That SUV apparently played into the attack, Trevilla said in Spanish, adding that the suspects "believed the vehicle was being used by offenders of a rival criminal group."
Soldiers also seized five rifles and one handgun, as well as five vehicles during the Wednesday raids.
Before the suspects' identities were disclosed, U.S. officials were already calling for their extradition from Mexico -- despite the likely objections from authorities there.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said the suspects should face the death penalty in a U.S. court.
"That's because the United States should set an example (of what happens) when you kill an American federal agent," Cuellar said Wednesday in McAllen.
President Barack Obama spoke with Mexican President Felipe Calderon late Wednesday, thanking him for his country's efforts that led to the arrests.
"The President said neither the United States nor Mexico could tolerate violence against those who serve and protect our citizens, as Special Agent Zapata did so selflessly through his own life," a statement issued by the White House reads.
Mexican officials did not say Wednesday night whether the suspected Zetas would be extradited to face a U.S. court.
Calderon is scheduled to travel to Washington on March 3 to meet with President Barack Obama.
One former U.S. official familiar with the case told The Monitor early Wednesday afternoon that authorities were "definitely on the trail" of several suspects.
The arrests came just a day after Agent Zapata's funeral in Brownsville. Several U.S. officials attended the Tuesday morning ceremony, including ICE Director John Morton, who called the arrests a "welcome development."
"We are encouraged by this action and appreciate the efforts by Mexico to bring Special Agent Zapata's killers to justice," Morton said in a statement released Wednesday evening. "We continue to hold the Zapata family in our thoughts and prayers, and look forward to a swift resolution of this case."
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
