He was an associate of Joaquin "El Chapo" Gusman and a member of one of the most powerful Mexican organized crime cartels. He was one of the most bloodthirsty drug lords in the world. He is serving a theoretical sentence until 2056 in a federal prison in Florida, U.S.A.
But the trail of Edgar Valdes Villareal has been lost for 24 hours. Investigations by media outlets such as El Pais and CNN have revealed that his name is no longer in the database of the US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
In fact, authorities said they "do not know the legal status of 'La Barbie,'" the nickname of the notorious thug with blond hair, pale skin and blue-green eyes.
The reasons why a convict may find himself off the detention register - it was mentioned in general terms - potentially vary.
They may relate to a court hearing, medical treatment outside the prison premises, etc. But they are not officially made public, it was stressed, "for reasons of security, protection or privacy."
The case of "La Barbie," however, is special and is already puzzling many. Especially outside American borders...
"What is happening in the US with Mr Villarreal is strange," said Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador. "It was leaked that he is no longer on the detainee registry and we want to know where he is. There is no reason for him to leave prison because his sentence is for several years," he said. "Unless there is a deal."....
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Strong connections
Born in Texas in 1973, Villarreal has dual citizenship. The nickname "La Barbie" is said to have been given to him by his football coach while he was in high school.
His first arrest was at 19 for involuntary manslaughter, when he killed a school counselor with his truck. Then he avoided jail.
He then became a "drug dealer." Within a few years, he had become the leader of the killers of the Mexican Beltran Leiva gang, at a time when it was working closely with "El Chapo" and the powerful Sinaloa cartel.
Ruthless, "La Barbie" recorded videos of the torture and murder of his victims. But in addition to being... a master killer, Villarreal was responsible for the proceeds of his criminal organization.
He was also one of the most trusted confidants of Arturo Beltran Leyva, leader of the Beltran Leyva and then also "capo di capi": a master con man, that is, who was eventually killed by Mexican police in 2009, in the first major success of then Mexican President Felipe Calderón's war against organized crime.
Rumors of betrayal within the cartels have since swirled and an open war broke out between Villarreal and his former boss's brothers, which drowned Acapulco and Cuernavaca in blood.
Through it, Villarreal emerged as one of the strongmen of Mexico's new generation of drug lords. He owned luxury properties across the country, drove expensive sports cars, and wore designer clothes.
Finally, he was arrested by Mexican police in August 2010 at a ranch outside Mexico City without firing a single shot.
He had a mysterious sardonic smile, wearing a very expensive watch in his hands along with his handcuffs...
"Dark Paths"
His arrest operation was touted as another success of the Calderon presidency.
Five years later, in 2015, Villarreal was extradited to the United States, where he faced charges of drug smuggling and money laundering.
In January 2016, he pleaded guilty. In June 2018, he was sentenced to 49 years in prison and fined $192,000.
Practically, his conviction meant that "La Barbie" would spend the rest of his life in a cell...
At his trial, he and his lawyers argued that the arrested drug lord was an informant for the DEA, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, from 2008 to 2010.
In 2012, while still detained in Mexico, "La Barbie" sent a letter to a journalist, published in the Mexican newspaper Reforma, in which he claimed that "my arrest was the result of political persecution by Felipe Calderon."
He denounced that Mexico's right-wing president - who left office that year - "wanted to make a deal with all the organized crime groups."
La Barbi said he was present at some meetings personally organized by Calderón, with the participation of even El Chapo himself. In his letter, however, Villarreal indicated that he had refused to be part of the deal.
Similar allegations of collaboration between the Mexican authorities and organized crime were later made before a US court by the arrested Jesus "Ray" Sabada, brother of El Chapo's "partner" in the leadership of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael "El Mayo" Sabada.
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"Bait" for other... "fish"?
The charges against Calderon came back to the fore in 2020, in the trial on US soil of García Luna: Mexico's former Minister of Public Security during Calderon's presidency.
He was the one who had the overall command in the arrest of Villarreal and was eventually arrested himself in late 2019 in Dallas, accused of taking bribes from the Sinaloa cartel in order to let it continue its criminal activities undisturbed.
"He has received money from me, from drug trafficking and organized crime," La Barbie wrote of Luna in his 2012 letter."
The leaked news that reports of federal prisoner 05658-748 (Villarreal's number) have disappeared from the prisoner registry meanwhile comes at a key juncture.
In January, García Luna is expected to appear in court in New York for the next phase of his trial for cartel ties.
Fatefully, the most prevalent scenario for "La Barbie's" fate is seen as his inclusion in the US Federal Witness Protection Program, in a case that could potentially touch persons who have served in the highest political echelons in Mexico.
The country's right-wing former president, Felipe Calderón, has rejected any suggestion of his guilt. "I acted with determination against these criminal organizations," he told reporters in 2020.
What seems to concern the leftist current president of Obrador most, however, is that his country has been excluded from any consultation as to the handling of the "La Barbi" case.
This is while, on the one hand, a warrant remains in force in Mexico against the former archibaron and, on the other hand, Washington's pressure on the Mexican leadership to increase the number of extraditions of fugitives to the United States is intensifying.
Source: in.gr
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