Víctor Manuel Vázquez Mireles

Víctor Manuel Vázquez Mireles (born 3 June 1967) is a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Vázquez Mireles joined the cartel during the 1990s and was a trusted enforcer of former kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén. He started his career in the cartel as one of his bodyguards and was eventually placed in charge of operations in Tamaulipas and Veracruz. He was reportedly responsible for supervising the purchase of drugs intended to be smuggled into the U.S. for distribution and for arranging the assistance of corrupt law enforcement officials in the cartel's operations.

In 1999, Vázquez Mireles and his associates threatened two U.S. agents at gunpoint in Matamoros after the agents traveled there with an informant to gather intelligence on the Gulf Cartel's operations. The agents and informant returned to the U.S. unharmed but this incident triggered a massive manhunt against Vázquez Mireles. He was arrested in March 2003 in Veracruz and sentenced to 7.5 years in November 2006. His conviction was later overturned and Vázquez Mireles remained without a sentence for nearly a decade. In March 2020, he was reported to have been released from custody and active in the cartel. He is a wanted fugitive in the U.S. for drug trafficking and assault.

Early life Víctor Manuel Vázquez Mireles was born on 3 June 1967 in Tamaulipas, Mexico; The operation was headed by Vázquez Mireles. Police chief Arturo Pedroza Aguirre reportedly tipped off García Sánchez's whereabouts to Cárdenas Guillén and Los Zetas; he told them that García Sánchez was hiding in a residential neighborhood, and gave them the exact home address. Los Zetas acted on his information and abducted García Sánchez at his home along with four of his henchmen; one of his gunmen, Juvenal Sánchez Torres ("El Juve"), was killed during the operation. Los Zetas suffered one casualty after their gunman Raúl Alberto Trejo Benavides ("El Alvin") was mortally wounded. García Sánchez was taken to Tamaulipas and was found dead that same day in Río Bravo; he was tortured and mutilated by his captors.

On 18 December 2002, On 3 March 2020, it was reported that Vázquez Mireles was released from prison and rejoined his organized crime activities by working with Mario Alberto Cárdenas Medina ("El Betillo").