Raúl Hernández Barrón

Raúl Hernández Barrón (4 February 1977 – 26 July 2014), also known by his alias Flanders 1, was a Mexican suspected drug lord and high-ranking member of Los Zetas, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Hernández Barrón served in the Mexican Army from 1993 to 1999 as an infantry soldier. He then left and joined the Gulf Cartel under the kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, and became part of the first members of their newly formed paramilitary wing, Los Zetas. Like Hernández Barrón, most of the first members of Los Zetas were ex-military. Los Zetas was responsible for providing security services to Cárdenas Guillén and carrying out executions on the cartel's behalf. Hernández Barrón was also responsible for coordinating drug trafficking activities in Veracruz.

In 2006, Hernández Barrón was part of the commando that killed the regional Mexican music singer Valentín Elizalde following a concert in Reynosa. Investigators suspect that Elizalde was killed for playing a song that taunted Los Zetas. Hernández Barrón was arrested by the Mexican Army in Coatzintla in 2008 and charged with drug trafficking, organized crime involvement, and illegal possession of firearms. He was eventually released from prison. In 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury carried out economic sanctions against him for his involvement with the cartel. In 2014, he was killed in a shootout with the Mexican Federal Police in Reynosa.

Early life and career Raúl Hernández Barrón was born in Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico, on 4 February 1977. According to the United States Department of the Treasury (USDT), he had listed alternative places of birth in Coatzintla and Veracruz. He also had an alternative date of birth of 16 October 1980.