U.S. helps capture baby trafficking cartel leader ‘La Diabla’

U.S. officials said they helped arrest a Mexican cartel ringleader known as “La Diabla,” who was accused of running a baby trafficking and organ-harvesting scheme that left pregnant women dead and their newborns sold off for big bucks.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Wednesday that authorities arrested Martha Alicia Mendez Aguilar, a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, during a joint operation with Mexican police earlier this month in Juarez, Mexico.

The ODNI said La Diabla lured pregnant, often impoverished women to remote locations before forcing them to go through with the illegal cesarean sections.

The infant would fetch roughly $13,500 on the black market, officials said, while the mother, who was usually killed during the procedure, had her organs removed to be sold as well.

“This is one example of what terrorist cartels will do to diversify their revenue streams and finance operations,” said Joe Kent, the ODNI’s director of its National Counterterrorism Center.

He said U.S. intelligence tracked down La Diabla and helped Mexican and American authorities carry out the Sept. 2 arrest of the ringleader.

“I am proud of our team’s ability to work with our forward deployed U.S. partners and Mexican law enforcement to stop these horrific acts,” Mr. Kent said. “NCTC remains committed to disrupting all aspects of terrorist cartels and their operations. And in this case, the lives of innocent women and children depended on it.”

Ms. Mendez Aguilar’s arrest was aided by President Trump’s designation of Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

The new classification allows U.S. agencies to crack down on the cartels with counterterrorism assets — such as greater intelligence and military support — rather than with the tools of the criminal justice system.

Beyond the arrest of La Diabla, this has also been seen with military strikes on drug traffickers sailing through the Caribbean Sea.