Mexico Captures Senior Gulf Cartel Capo

Mexico City: Security forces in northeastern Mexico captured a leading figure in the Gulf drug cartel blamed for much of the violence in the region, officials said Sunday.

Juan Manuel Rodriguez was on a quest to lead the once powerful group after the arrest of Gulf Cartel leader Mario Armando Ramirez Trevino in August 2013.

However he was not recognised by all group members and a fight to succeed Ramirez Trevino broke out, said federal security commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido.

Rodriguez was arrested on Sunday while he was with his wife and children in an upscale neighbourhood in San Pedro Garza Garcia, in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, Rubido said.

Speaking at a press conference, Rubido said that Rodriguez was hiding in rented hotel rooms.

The Gulf Cartel used to dominate the crime world in much of the central and northern Gulf of Mexico coastline, but has been crippled after years of fighting with the paramilitary Zetas, their former hired gunmen and now bitter rivals.

Rodriguez Garcia, 39, was "responsible for the transfer of drugs, money and weapons across the border bridges" connecting Mexico via Tamaulipas state to the US state of Texas, Rubido said.

Rubido also blamed Rodriguez for ordering "the mass kidnappings of undocumented migrants, who were forced to work for his group under threats of assassination."

In August 2010 a group of 72 migrants from central and south America heading north to be smuggled across the US border were slaughtered by the Zetas in a ranch in Tamaulipas state for refusing to join their group.

Since early April there have been more than 100 drug-related killings in Tamaulipas as the Zetas and Gulf Cartel battle each other and different factions fight to lead their criminal groups.