THE BORDER REPORT

Well, today's been an eventful day, with narco-traffickers playing out more media fodder than the Democratic National Convention, a dozen decapitations in Veracruz and then a juicy bit of gossip that for the moment, is merely gossip.

The Get Shorty coalition had a busy night last night putting up those narco-banners throughout the entire country, from Hermosillo to Coahuila to Quintana Roo to Veracruz. The banners all say much the same thing, tying the local politicos back to Joaquín Shorty Guzmán.

I'm starting to believe my guys in the intel business; Chapo Guzmán really may come out on top in this reacommodo. If the Gulf people, the Juárez people, and his old partners, the Beltrán Leyva family are taking to spreading the message nationwide, that cannot be the sign of a winner. Clearly someone's growing embittered and I don't think it's the man whose name keeps appearing on these banners.

Then there's today's chisme:

It seems local police in Los Mochis, a particularly feral little town up on the Sinaloan border with Sonora, got themselves wrapped up in a gunfight at a few homes early this morning. By the end of the day, seven people were arrested and promptly flown down to Culiacán.

The rumor around town is that Arturo Beltrán Leyva was one of those arrested. Some sources say Beltrán was recognized by his distinctive beard as he was being led away. A second source in Culiacán goes one further, saying the Beltrán brother was accompanied by a Colombian man who was also snatched up when Beltrán fell.

One Beltrán Leyva brother already fell earlier this year; if Arturo has also gone down, the Sinaloan Federation is going to beat the remaining traitors like a pack of stray dogs.

We'll see. I can't imagine the MexFeds sitting on this one too much past the time it takes them to move what's essentially a high ranking member of the narco-royalty down to Mexico City.

Pres. Felipe Calderón has been taking quite an amount of heat from his citizens for what they see as a growingly nasty war with no end. Sinaloa Gov. Jesús Aguilar Padilla has been criticizing the Mexican Army's "spontaneous" home raids, though he gives no particular reason. PRI powerhouse Manlio Fabio Beltrones is also piling on, circling Calderón like a wolf. He closed in today, saying the government is going to have to pull the Army back because of its insufficiencies and deep corruption levels.

Arturo going down would be quite the feather in the president's cap, effectively silencing a lot of critics. Of course, if the Beltrán brother really was arrested, I return to the question posed eight, ten months ago. Where's Chapo?

-- Michel Marizco