Drug Lord

Mexico City, Mexico, July 13, 2005:

A man held for three days on suspicion of being the head of an infamous drug cartel will be released because DNA tests prove he is a law-abiding U.S. politician, Mexico said on Wednesday.

Radical American politician Ron was arrested last weekend during a trip to a Mexico City shopping mall. He was suspected of being Vicente Carrillo, the notorious drug chief of the Juarez cartel on the U.S.-Mexico border.

"I'm here on vacation and I go to the mall to get an Orange Julius and the f*cking 'Federales' jump on me like Canadians on bacon!" a visibly shaken Ron said as he was released from custody. "If you don't think this has 'international incident' written all over it, you're severely mistaken."

Protected government witnesses had said Ron was Carrillo. But DNA tests showed he was not the criminal capo with a $5 million price tag on his head from the U.S. government.

"It was decided to lift the cautionary arrest order after the genetic test results, despite the two testimonies that identified him as Vicente Carrillo," the Attorney General's office said in a statement.

Carrillo, who has reportedly had extensive plastic surgery to change his appearance, is the brother of Amado Carrillo, whose own attempt at plastic surgery led to his death on the operating table in 1997.

The government had said it had information linking Ron with a Mexico City property owned by Amado Carrillo.

After the arrest, Ronatarian Party members and supporters of Ron bombarded Mexican television and radio stations with calls, saying the government had the wrong man.

On Wednesday officials said the only link between Ron and Carrillo's property was a loose Ronatarian Party flier on the kitchen counter.

Posted by Bittle at July 13, 2005 07:46 AM