Border Reporter's Channel

MICHEL MARIZCO

BORDERREPORTER.COM

For years, Mexico’s narco-traffickers have feared one thing more than any: extradition to the United States. In the U.S. prison system, the thinking goes, these guys are rendered impotent, away from their castles, their money and their connections.

Then Grandpa Cocá threw a little party.

**(Photos and news tip come from Vanguardia, a newspaper on Mexico's Gulf Coast. ¡Saludos, cabrónes!)

Osiel Cardenas Guillén is the godfather of the Gulf Cartel; the man, who perhaps most famously, un-nerved the continent when he gave Special Forces soldiers their start as the notorious Zetas. He was arrested in a gunbattle in Mexico, 2003, then extradited to Houston last year.

This morning, as Mexico celebrated the Day of the Child, Osiel’s long arm reached out again, festooning the city of Ciudád Acuña with food, drink, music, clowns, balloons, and a banner that read:

“Happy Day of the Child; your friend Osiel Cárdenas Guillén; because you are the future of our Mexico, your friend, Osiel CG.”

 Now, I’m certain the Americans would sneer and say, “no, no, there’s no way Cardenas paid for that party! He’s safely locked away.”

But I’ll tell you what I believe: A guy like Osiel Cardenas doesn’t rise to the top of his game, fall, go to prison in the U.S. and still throw these parties unless he’s thinking he may get out sometime soon. About 2,000 people attended grandpa’s bash, my friends tell me.