By Chris CovertRantburg.com
Five Mexican Army officers have been ordered to detention by an unidentified Mexican federal district judge, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to an article posted on the website of Milenio news daily, among the officers ordered detained were retired General de Division Tomas Angeles Dauahare, retired General de Division Ricardo Escorcia Vargas, retired General de Brigadier Roberto Dawe Gonzalez, retired Lieutenant Colonel Silvio Isidro de Jesus Hernandez Soto and Major Ivan Reyna Muñoz.
All five are charged with a nexus to organized crime to commit crimes against health.
According to a report posted on the website of La Jornada En Linea news daily, the army officers are charged with protecting elements of the Beltran-Leyva drug cartel including Edgar Valdez Villarreal, Gerardo Alvarez Vazquez, and their cocaine trade.
The five officers are ordered to be detained for 80 days while investigations and trials are conducted. This form of detention is routine in high profile drug cases but the length of this detention is double what is considered normal.
General de Division Angeles Dauahare became an issue on last spring's Mexican presidential election as it was found he was on a slate of at-large legislative candidates for the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). PRI went on to win crushing electoral victories throughout Mexico, everywhere but in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com