The United States Department of State announced on Tuesday, November 12, a reward of $5 million for information leading to the arrest of José María Guizar Valencia, whom they describe as a commander of a faction of Los Zetas in southern Mexico responsible for annually trafficking thousands of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine to the U.S. He is known to use the aliases of "Amo", "Carlitos" and "Charly" (derived from Carlos, an alternate name he has used), "Chema", and "Z43".
The Department of State lists his date of birth as November 1, 1979 in Tulare, California, making him an American national. A man by the same name and age was arrested in January 2001 at the Lucio Blanco international airport in Reynosa, Tamaulipas for possession of 9.035 kilograms of cocaine found in his luggage. This José María Guizar Valencia was reportidly from Palenque, Chiapas. While there is some uncertainty, circumstancial evidence makes it appear they are one in the same person.
What is certain is that "Z43" at some point was imprisoned in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and escaped from there in 2005. He then fled to Huimanguillo, Tabasco, where he went into hiding. The events of his criminal career in the years thereafter have been unreported, but it is obvious that he was a member of Los Zetas who climbed in stature and power during that time.
His name began to surface on June 8, 2012, when Erik Cardenas Guízar, alias "El Orejón", was arrested while traveling on the Veracruz-Xalapa highway. "El Orejón" would go on to confess to beinga member of Los Zetas in charge of money laundering through construction companies in Tabasco and Veracruz. Additionally, he provided testimony on the operations of Los Zetas in the region. In this testimony he mentioned that "Z43" was an associate of Mauricio Guízar Cárdenas, alias "El Amarillo", and of Maxiley Nadales Barahona, alias "Z19". It is worth noting that "El Orejón" claimed to be a cousin of both "El Amarillo" and "Z43".
On July 19, 2012, three members of Los Zetas, among which was Pedro Hernández Hernández, alias "El Chelo", were arrested in the municipality of Comalcalco, Tabasco. "El Chelo" would confess to being an operations chief for Los Zetas who had previously been sent to Colombia and Guatemala by "Z43" to negotiate drug trafficking.His name began to surface on June 8, 2012, when Erik Cardenas Guízar, alias "El Orejón", was arrested while traveling on the Veracruz-Xalapa highway. "El Orejón" would go on to confess to beinga member of Los Zetas in charge of money laundering through construction companies in Tabasco and Veracruz. Additionally, he provided testimony on the operations of Los Zetas in the region. In this testimony he mentioned that "Z43" was an associate of Mauricio Guízar Cárdenas, alias "El Amarillo", and of Maxiley Nadales Barahona, alias "Z19". It is worth noting that "El Orejón" claimed to be a cousin of both "El Amarillo" and "Z43".
The information provided by "El Orejón" and "El Chelo" led to the arrest of "El Amarillo" on July 27 and, thereafter, "Z43", along with six associates, in Villahermosa, Tabasco, on July 31, 2012. In the report of his arrest, he was described as head of the Tabasco plaza. It is unclear how much time he spent in prison, though it was clearly brief, all things considered, which raises suspicion.
Based on this, it is quite apparent that "Z43" is one of the highest ranking active members of Los Zetas, possibly even second in command, and the $5 million reward is quite fitting for this criminal that has managed to fly under the radar for so many years.