GORDO-GATE: Arrest Mixup- Not Chapos Son- Mexico Pointing Finger at U.S. and US Pointing back-DNA Testing

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

Latest update

Mother of man arrested says her son is an American born in Los Angeles...DNA being tested, Mexico says the information of identity came from the U.S.

While the U.S. says the information came from Mexico...Both are reportedly testing DNA independently.  The person arrested is Felix Beltran Leon the leader of a cell under the command of the son of "El Chapo" in Jalisco.

The Federal Attorney General's Office reports:

On 21 June elements of the Secretary of Navy presented  two people, one of which was identified as Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, therefore, the public prosecutor of the Federation launched an investigation following PGR / SIEDO / UEIARV / 051/2012, for his alleged responsibility in the crimes of organized crime, possession of firearms for exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and operations.   .

After performing the necessary tests to know their identity, has been determined that those presented are Felix Beltran Beltran Leon and Kevin Daniel Rios, 23 and 19 years of age, respectively. The men are half brothers.

Read additional update information at the bottom of this post.

In the video below is  the attorney and  mother of the man misidentified as a son of El Chapo.  Elodia is the name of the mother..  The attorney offers proof of the mistaken identity by displaying photos & documents.

Yesterday this reporter posted a photo of a person said to be Jesus  the son of Chapo Guzman.  Reporting the presentation would be within hours.  After the presentation and viewing the photos, in my opinion the people in my early photo and that at the presentation looked strikingly different.  Thinking I had mistakenly posted a photo that was not in reality that of Jesus Guzman, I removed it from the post and posted new presentation photos. 

Later in the day, rumors flew  that in fact questioned if the man was in fact Jesus Guzman.  Today the attorney representing the Guzman Family announced they would present a news conference to reject the notion that the man arrested is El Chapos son.

It is hard to believe as true that the federal agencies and the Marina could make such an error, so hopefully the attorney's will present a video of the true person or some iron clad proof that it is not the man presented.

At 11AM this morning, the family lawyer of Guzman Loera is holding  a press conference to deny the arrest of Alfredo Guzman Salazar as being the son of El Chapo.

A man who was introduced yesterday as the alleged son of "El Chapo" Guzman is not the son of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, says the family.  By means of an email sent to several media outlets,  family lawyers announced there would be a news conference  at 11 AM in Sanborn's Plaza Pavilion in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The  sender of the mail, which was read by Carmen Aristegui on MVS Radio, reads: "From: Jesus Alfredo Guzman  despachopenalistasdeabogados@yahoo.com.mx.

"Gentlemen communicators, (press)  this Friday June 22 at 11 am we expect the presence of representatives of the media to raise awareness of important issues relating to detention of an individual who federal authorities say  is part of Guzman Loera family.We'll show them otherwise.  

                                 (Beltran's attorney displaying photos at news conference)

                                                  Below is video of transfer

Lawyers and family members Guzman Loera, I call for the press to be at the conference at 11 am at the Plaza Pavilion Sanborn coffee. " Grupo Reforma reported that the lawyer Jesús Alfredo Guzman, Heriberto Rangel Mendez, said the arrested man is  actually Felix Beltran Leon  who bears no relationship to the Sinaloa cartel leader but  his nickname is "El Gordo."

Yesterday evening, the Marina of Mexico arrested Alfredo Guzman Salazar, whom he introduced as the alleged son of Joaquin Guzman Loera, however, according to another version says that the subject would be really presented Felix Beltran Leon, who is engaged in buying and selling cars in Guadalajara. For its part, the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) applauded yesterday as a "tremendous victory" the arrest of Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar.

Another related fact is that Mexico has plans to extradite to the U.S. Jesus Guzman, pending the person arrested is in fact the son of Chapo.

UPDATE: Man arrested is an American born in Los Angeles, family charges the government with planting weapons: 

Guadalajara, Jalisco,; the attorney  and family of the arrested man identified as the son of the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, assure that he is not  the son of "El Chapo" Guzmán.  They  are working gathering  documents such as birth certificate and official credentials to prove the identity of the young man arrested by  Semar.  They contend the man is  Félix Beltrán Leon and not Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar.

In an interview with Radio Formula, Veronica Guerrero, the León Beltrán family lawyer said that the arrest of Felix was "mere confusion" and they will lodge an appeal.

He explained that in addition to presenting official documents to prove the true identity of his client  they would  resort to a DNA test.

Elodia Leon, who claims to be the mother of León Beltrán, meanwhile, said that his son was born on October 8, 1988 in Los Angeles, California and is married to Karla Giovanni Pacheco and the couple has lived in Guadalajara for two years.  She is quoted as saying “ my son has no connection to the Sinaloa cartel.

The attorney for the man arrested had arrived to the conference, but said she needed to wait for the family before answering questions.  The family is 7 hours late and reporters have begun to leave feeling that no one is arriving. 

This puts another spin on the story, that  perhaps it was not the attorney for the Guzman family that was staging the news conference after all.  It was from the man the Beltran family is referring to as Felix.

Or so it would seem.

The Mexican navy identified him as Alfredo Guzman Salazar, saying he is believed to be the son of Sinaloa Cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, as well as a rising operator in the international drug trafficking organization.

"There is total confusion," said his lawyer Veronica Guerrero said, "... which is having a serious effect on their personal and family situation."

The Mexican Attorney General's Office issued a statement Friday saying its information came from the U.S.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the information came from Mexico.

Both say they're checking DNA.

"The Mexican Navy and Mexican law enforcement have said this is El Chapo's son and that's is who  was captured,".  said DEA spokesman Rusty Payne, noting that the DEA is working separately to confirm the man's identity.

Pacheco showed The Associated Press what she said were her husband's voting credential and driver's license. The man arrested bears only slight resemblance to a photograph of Guzman's son recently issued by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Elodia Beltran appeared with Guerrero at a press conference Friday saying she is the mother of the detained man.

"He's never been arrested," she said. "This is a real injustice."

Pacheco said the couple and their 1-year-old were sleeping in their home in Zapopan, a suburb of the western city of Guadalajara, when marines kicked in the door and arrested her husband and his half-brother, 19-year-old Kevin Daniel Beltran Rios.

Authorities identified Beltran Rios as an alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The men were found with a grenade launcher and four grenades, two assault rifles, two pistols and $135,000 in cash, the navy said. Pacheco said there were no drugs or guns, but the family did have the cash because of a recent home sale.

Another lawyer, Heriberto Rangel Mendez, said the government planted the weapons.

Zapopan has been the scene of much drug violence and arrests. It's where Guzman's other son, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, also known as "El Chapito," was detained on money laundering charges in 2005, and where top Sinaloa lieutenant, Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, was killed in a 2010 shootout with Mexican army.

Pacheco said her husband works at Autos Pacheco, a used car dealership that gunmen attacked in May, killing one man. The target was a customer looking at cars, not the business, Pacheco said, though media reports said the dealership owner was killed.

"We've never had any links to drug traffickers," Pacheco said. "He's not the person they say he is.

NOTE:  It was in the afternoon that reports from the attorney representing Beltran, that Beltran had been born in Los Angeles, this supposedly from the mother, and Beltrans father born in Durango.  Subsequently, in the late afternoon a few reports were that it was the arrested man born in Durango.  I really don't know and frankly no longer care about this merry go round. 

I find it interesting that Mexico gave no mention of the US being involved with the capture of "El Chapos's son", yet the tide whipped fast once Chapo's "son" became Felix Beltran, when at that time Mexico was quick to blame the US, and stated that it was DEA that lead the arrest by the information they gave to Mexico.

And interesting again is the family declaring the weapons planted BUT the 135K in cash was theirs.

I am not buying it.  Why would the DEA then congratulate Mexico after the arrest?  The entire scenario is best described as the Keystone Cops in a pit of revolving "truth" and a landslide of incompetence,  on both sides the border.

Sources: Milenio, Informador, Vanguardia