The Death of a Mexican Drug Lord

Understandably, Mexican President Felipe Calderon is trumpeting the navy's success in taking down Arturo Beltran Leyva, wanted in the United States and Mexico for his part in the $15-billion to $20-billion-a-year drug trade. He was a criminal known to behead his rivals and believed to be responsible for last year's killing of the federal police chief in his Mexico City home; he was the most powerful cartel boss to be removed by security forces since Calderon launched his drug war in 2006. The operation reportedly was the result of improved U.S.-Mexican intelligence cooperation, and although the naval troops failed to take Beltran Leyva and six cohorts alive, it should yield a trove of new information. Moreover, the battle between cartel grenades and the navy's mounted machine guns was carried out without civilian casualties or, apparently, some of the other abuses that have marked army operations.

For all the accomplishments, however, the operation reveals the extent of unfinished business in Calderon's campaign. Beltran Leyva was discovered at a luxury apartment complex near the governor's mansion in the city of Cuernavaca, just south of the national capital. Clearly he felt he had bought enough protection from security forces to stray far from his home base in Sinaloa and into the weekend getaway for Mexico City's rich. But someone either infiltrated his inner circle or turned on him -- possibly for the $2-million bounty on his head.