Calderon’s administration always strongly denied such assertions, though some observers - including NPR, in a 2010 report - found evidence that, at times, the government appeared to favor the Sinaloa Cartel. RioDoce’s reporting feeds into suspicions that have long surrounded the Sinaloa Cartel: that President Felipe Calderon’s administration had some kind of agreement with the criminal organization, allowing the cartel’s leaders to operate in peace, while focusing on pursuing its rivals. If such an agreement with the authorities is indeed in place, this would also help explain why the Sinaloa Cartel would be so willing to surrender El Fantasma: in order to respect this pact and keep Sinaloa state relatively peaceful. A previous report by RioDoce cited a military intelligence document as saying that the Sinaloa Cartel had committed to keeping violent actions in Sinaloa to a minimum, pledging to launch attacks only in response to rivals the Beltran Leyva Organization and the group run by drug trafficker Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, alias “Chapito Isidro.” However, even if El Chapo and El Mayo stopped seeing their top gunman as an asset to the Sinaloa Cartel, this may not have been their only motive for giving him up. Such behavior meant El Mayo received plenty of complaints from local communities about El Fantasma, RioDoce asserts. El Fantasma also had a reputation as a violent and volatile gunman, who terrorized the locals in the small towns outside of Culiacan, beating up civilians and municipal police officers and interrupting private parties while brandishing weapons. The publication argues that Sinaloa Cartel leaders Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia viewed El Fantasma as a risky employee, as he was being tracked by military intelligence. RioDoce theorizes that the operation - in which not a single shot was fired - was actually a surrender negotiated by the Sinaloa Cartel. When he was arrested in Februrary, 200 soldiers and three marine helicopters participated in the operation, trapping him in a house 30 minutes south of Sinaloa capital Culiacan. He had previously evaded capture by authorities twice, including one incident in which he was mistakenly reported to have been killed by the security forces. El Fantasma is accused of working as a hitman and bodyguard for the Sinaloa Cartel, and earned his nickname thanks to the precautions he took to protect his identity, according to the report. RioDoce, which covers news in Mexico’s Sinaloa state, reports that the recent capture of Jonathan Salas Aviles, alias “El Fantasma” (“The Ghost”), may have come about thanks to an agreement with the Sinaloa Cartel. A Mexican investigative news outlet questions whether a recently-arrested top Sinaloa Cartel hitman was handed over by cartel bosses, perhaps in order to uphold a pact to keep violence in the area at a minimum.
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