Mexico Nabs Alleged Mastermind of US Consulate Killing

(July 2) -- Mexican police arrested the man they believe masterminded the killing of an American woman employed by the U.S. consulate.

Jesus Ernesto Chavez -- known as "The Camel" -- planned the attacks and provided the necessary guns to the killers, who shot dead three people as they left a birthday party, Mexico's Ministry of Public Security said on its website.

Chavez, who worked for an armed gang known as "The Line," told authorities he was ordered to arrange the killing by gang members living in the United States. They were angered because Lesley Enriquez, who worked for the U.S. consulate in the Mexican city of Juarez, was helping members of a rival gang obtain visas to travel to the United States, the statement said.

Chavez "is responsible for the logistics and administration" for "various activities connected to organized crime," the statement said.

The U.S. embassy in Mexico did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment from AOL News.

Mexican drug cartels make billions of dollars smuggling drugs such as marijuana and cocaine into the United States. Fighting between rival gangs and the Mexican army has killed more than 20,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006.

Enriquez, who was four months pregnant when she died, was killed on March 13 as she drove away from the birthday party with her husband and baby daughter. The gunmen were confused because they had been told that she would be driving a white SUV. But when Enriquez left the party, there were two such vehicles.

The gunmen simply shot at both vehicles, killing Enriquez, her husband and the driver of the other SUV. Enriquez's daughter survived.

Chavez, 41, had previously served five years in a Louisiana jail for drug dealing, the statement said. In Juarez, he sold drugs as well as committing kidnapping and extortion, the statement said.

Chavez also told authorities he took part in an attack in February that killed 13 teenagers at a separate party, investigators said. The killers mistakenly believed that the teenagers were part of a rival drug gang.

On Thursday, 21 people were killed in a shootout near the Mexican city of Nogales, about 12 miles form the U.S. border, The Associated Press reported. All of the dead were members of drug gangs.

Elsewhere, the assistant attorney general for the Mexican state of Chihuahua was shot dead after a nighttime chase through Ciudad Juarez. One of her bodyguards was also killed and another seriously injured.

Drug violence along the Mexican border has become a hot topic in U.S. politics, with President Barack Obama sending more troops to the border. Last week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer was widely criticized after saying that most illegal immigrants entering the U.S. from Mexico were smuggling drugs.