Wanted in the U.S: Zeta founder "Z2" aka El Kelin" is reported released from Mexican prison

by Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

Rogelio  Gonzalez  Pizana  "El Kelin"  a native  of  Matamoros ,  Tamaulipas .  who  was  arrested  on  October  28 , 2004  and  after  10  years  in  prison ,  was  supposedly released  last  Saturday  august  30 , 2014, according to VXT,

The first court of Guadalajara, ordered his release.  

A lieutenant of Osiel Cardenas Guillen and later a founder of Los Zetas,  the man known as Kelin, was sentenced to 16 years in prison, being found guilty of  drug crimes, and is suspected of being one of the main traffickers of cocaine and marijuana into the US, operating from Colombia to the US. 

Being one of the Zetas founders he is the only “civil” founder, the others belonged to Mexican Army Special Forces. 

 He was arrested in a strip joint “El Covacha” in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.  He was taken into custody, after a gunfight with federal agents that left two suspects and one law-enforcement agent dead.  Kelin attempted to escape in a VW Passat, throwing grenades as he fled; he was shot in his torso.

Mexican police and soldiers found a large arsenal of automatic weapons, as well as grenades, pistols, bulletproof vests and three cars with Texas license plates, in the aftermath of the 1AM raid on the bar.

Mexico’s  attorney general said at the time, "El Kelín was considered the chief of the execution arm of Osiel Cárdenas, as well as being the leader of the group known as Los Zetas.”

If he was released, it would appear to be another “Mexican error”,  as  he has long been wanted in the US . Prior to his capture, the United States government offered a reward of one million dollars for Z-2, he is  wanted on charges for  possession and distribution of cocaine, in addition to detaining  and threatening DEA agents, by gunpoint,  in 1999. 

The 1999 incident with Dea and FBI agents that El Kelin is a suspect of

In the infamous incident, which took place on Feb. 9, 1999, Kelin, was a participant in the detention of two United States Drug Enforcement Administration agents, and a journalist,  when  sicarios of Osiel Cárdenas' encircled their car in Matamoros and forced them to stop, all the while having assault rifles trained on them. 

Here is how one of the agents, Joe Dubois,  for the first time, and almost 11 years subsequent to the standoff, describes the 1999 encounter he experienced with Cardenas.

Dubois did not have to guess how he would be killed; he had viewed countless photos of the handiwork of cartel sicarios, henchmen, and heard the tape of Kiki Camarena's torture.

With Dubois, there was an FBI agent, named Daniel Fuentes, and  a Mexican reporter from a small Tamaulipas newspaper, who was their informant, was sitting in the back seat, slouching, desperately trying to keep his face from being seen.

DuBois, worked out of the U.S. Consulate office, in Monterrey, and Fuentes, based in Houston FBI office, were assigned to collect routine intelligence on leaders of the Gulf Cartel.

In the afternoon of Nov. 9, 1999, they were aboard a white Bronco, they knew the streets well and cruised by Osiel’s pink house with the high fence walls , and immediately had a tail, a stolen truck bearing Texas license plates.  Then two more Trucks, also with Texas plates were also following the agents.

The Bronco was cut off and encircled by the three trucks, just feet away from the Matamoros municipal police department.  The Bronco was caught in the trap, with no ability to escape.

A convoy of other vehicles arrived and gunmen jumped out, bearing assault rifles.  Some of the gumen wore police uniforms, and a few of the uniformed men began directing traffic around the Bronco.

“The only way we were getting out was to talk our way out,” DuBois says he remembers.
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One gunman looked as if he were “coked out of his mind."  ‘Kill them!’ the coked narco was screaming.

Cardenas jumped out of  a white Jeep Cherokee, carrying a gold plated AK47 as he  approached the agents.

Dubois remembered thinking,  “This is the fucker that is going to kill me today.”

Osiel pounded on the Bronco and demanded the agents get out and that they hand over the informant.   He warned they would be shot if they didn't surrender the reporter. At one point, he pointed his AK-47 at Fuentes' head.

Dubois said he had decided two things, to die on his own terms, and not surrender the reporter.

And the only way out alive was to play mind games and talk his way out.  If he was not successful, they were all three dead men walking.

Osiel asked again for them to hand over the reporter. And for all three to leave the Bronco.

Dubois embraced the long shot, and went for it,  knowing chances were minuscule that he would work.

Dubois began by saying,  if anything happens to 2 U.S. agents, Osiel would be fucked, he said “you will not be able to hide, the search will not stop".

He warned Osiel, “nowhere to hide, they will find you”.  He reminded Osiel of the successful search for Kiki’s killers, even finding the  accomplices, and architects of his murder.  He asked Osiel if he thought it would be worth it to kill them and be subjected to the same fate.

Osiel seemed to be thinking it over, possibly weighing the importance of killing the three men, and the aftermath that would occur, he no doubt thought about the Kiki case, and how narco bigs had been brought down and were sitting in prison.

Osiel’s men, had guns raised, were to fire, just waiting for the command.

Finally Osiel  called off the gunmen and told the agents to leave.

“You fucking  gringos. This is my town, so get the fuck  out of here before I kill all of you,” 

“and don't ever come back.”

And with that the convoy vanished, and the agents and the reporter headed for the US border.

In 2010 Osiel Cardenas cut a deal in the US Federal Court, in exchange for 25 year sentence, he plead guilty to all 5 charges in the indictment, and began cooperating with the government.  

Of the charges in the plea, were the charges of the attempted murder of two US agents, Dubois and Fuentes, in addition to the assault of same.

Sources: BB archive and VXT