Mexico admits arrested 'drug kingpin' is actually a car salesman

The man wrongly paraded as druglord Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar - who is in fact a car salesman. Photograph: Antonio Nava/Zuma Press/Corbis

Mexico has admitted it mistakenly claimed to have captured a son of Mexico's most wanted druglord, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, which the ruling party had hailed as a major victory in its war on cartels.

Mexican marines seized the man on Thursday outside Guadalajara and flew him to Mexico City, where they paraded him in front of the media and identified him as Jesus Alfredo Guzman, aka El Gordo or The Fat One.

The man's lawyer, Veronica Guerrero, told a news conference earlier on Friday her client's real name was Felix Beltran and that he was an innocent car dealer. The federal attorney general's office said late on Friday the man arrested was indeed Beltran, without giving any further details.

The mixup is a major embarrassment for the government, which has been heavily criticised for failing to contain the violence and flow of drugs since president Felipe Calderon sent in the military to fight the cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

Marines said they apprehended the man with an arsenal of rifles, pistols and grenades and about $160,000 (?102,000) in cash.

Javier Oliva, a political scientist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the snafu showed how poor co-ordination is between US intelligence agencies and their Mexican counterparts.

"This is really serious. Nothing like this has ever happened before," he said, wondering how the agencies had gone public on the arrest without making the proper checks. "The main responsibility here lies with the DEA."

Thursday's arrest won praise from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, which has sought Jesus Alfredo Guzman since he was indicted for cocaine trafficking in 2009. His father, the elder Guzman, faces dozens of charges of racketeering and drug smuggling in US courts. There is a $5m reward for his capture.

The arrest came just over a week before Mexicans vote for a leader to replace Calderon, whom the constitution bars from seeking a second term. Brutal clashes between drug cartels and Mexican authorities have killed more than 55,000 people since Calderon launched his crackdown on the gangs.

"This is confirmation that President Calderon's strategy doesn't work," said Alberto Islas, a security expert at the consultancy Risk Evaluation. He said the botched arrest demonstrated the weakness of Mexico's own intelligence apparatus.

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