Candidates to lead Los Zetas

Lucio for Borderland Beat using  material from Borderland Beat archives

Speculation as to who “the new Zetas leader” will be, has already spread on both sides the border.

American media seems to have latched on to the possibility that elder brother Juan Francisco Treviño Morales is the successor.  That supposition is doubtful, other than Juan being blood related, it is difficult to give weight to that possibility.

For starters Juan is 61 years old.  He, as his brothers migrated to Texas in the 70s, Dallas is the city the family settled in.  Juan was a 23 year old newlywed when he made the move.  He began working within the law, using his trade as a mason to get by.   

He found it frustrating to work seven days a week, long hours and just scrape by.   

He tried other avenues of attaining income, such as an automobile detailing business.  He recruited his brothers Jose, Miguel (Z40) and Rodolfo to work with him in the construction business and later the detailing business. 

It was through the detailing business that the brothers connected with a Nuevo Laredo drug distributor.   Soon Juan became a small time drug distributor himself.  After a conviction for failing to report at the U.S. point of entry $47,000 in cash, he was cut a break and was sentenced to probation. 

A year later in 1995 he was convicted of marijuana distribution and trafficking and was sent to prison, where he remained until 2014.  In March of 2014 Juan was released from a Colorado prison, and deported.  

He was taken to the no man’s land of the international bridge between Nuevo Laredo Texas and Laredo, Tamaulipas Mexico and like all deportees was told to walk into Mexico. 

 He then seemingly disappeared.  Nothing has been written about his whereabouts or what he may be doing for the past year.

Juan was in the drug business at a much different time.  At a time when movers of drugs were of only

a handful of organizations, opposed to the dozens operating today.  Violence had not yet exploded to the level of the past 10 years, nor had it yet crossed over to include harming innocents.  Routes were defined and not aggressively fought over as is today.  And the business model structure adapted by the big cartels was not yet defined.
 

It was far different in 1995.  Juan missed the transition.  It would be difficult to think that with that

history and his age, that  he could lead a small enforcer group let alone a major cartel.
 

What he does have is Treviño Morales blood.  If he were to step into the role of leader, it would most likely be that of a de jure control appointment, a figurehead much like many think Omar (Z42) was.  

There to watch over the operation for Miguel, but not the decision maker.

Arguably, his biggest negative would be his age. He has already lost 20 years of his life while

incarcerated, would he want to chance another long imprisonment?  

His son [at above right] has followed in his footsteps.  And in reality at face value would be a better candidate, if not for the fact he is incarcerated and wanted in the U.S..  Juan Francisco Treviño Chavez  “El Quico”, 34,  escaped from a Nuevo Laredo prison in 2010.  His 2012 recapture took place  at a Monterrey, Nuevo Leon shopping center, he was  with Jesus Chavez Garcia, his cousin, who ran a cell of the Zetas cartel in Sabinas Hidalgo. 

Chávez García is one of the 141 prisoners in the mass escape from a Nuevo Laredo prison in December 16, 2010.

Other possible candidates
 

Maxiley Barahona Nadales, “El Contador” or “El Maxiley”, if it’s a leader with the potential for high level brutality it is this Zeta.  The Mexican agency PGR Labels him as “Extremely Dangerous”.  He is the second in line in the Zeta hierarchy.

Sergio Ricardo Basurto Peña “El Grande“, The Trusted and close friend of Miguel Treviño is in control of the narcotiendas, in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.  This means he is also responsible for authoring and ordering the killings in the city.  Since Lazca's death, he has been awarded greater responsibility to include the major port city of   Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.

Of the two men, if Juan is not appointed as a figurehead leader, the probable appointee would be El Grande.  It would become a matter of trust.  On the other hand Maxiley is seen as the more capable of the two, it could go either way.

Or someone entirely different.  Aside from the Treviño's mentioned in this post, there are dozens of nephews and cousins in Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Dallas area or south east Texas border.  

This is all speculation at this point, but based on what is known, these are top candidates.