Mexican drug lord La Tuta vows ‘fight to the death’

The net is closing is on Mexico’s Knights Templar drug cartel, but its charismatic leader has no plans to fade away quietly into the pages of history.

Servando Gómez, otherwise known as La Tuta, has vowed to “fight until the end” in a new 24-minute recording posted on social media.

I have committed many crimes like an idiot Servando “La Tuta” Gómez

One of Mexico’s most media-savvy and well-known cartel bosses, La Tuta has been put under increasing pressure by authorities seeking to stamp out his activities once and for all.

The rise of Mexican vigilantes taking on the Knights Templar

Channel 4 News spoke to him in January, when he revealed he left teaching – because it “wasn’t satisfying” – to become a brutal drugs boss.

Crack-down

But business has not gone smoothly since then, when Mexican authorities started to clamp down on his activities and associates.

In March, Mexican army and police raided a huge iron ore yard run by the Knights Templar.

I am not going to give myself up La Tuta

And last week, Mexican security forces arrested La Tuta’s wife in the violent western state of Michoacan – which the cartel boss has virtually made his own and, in the process, posing a national security threat to the government.

The detention of Ana Patino marks an escalation by Mexico’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto, who has overseen the capture or killing of many of the gang’s leaders.

Vigilante groups have also sprung up to challenge the strangling grip of the Knights Templar, forcing the hand of Mexican security forces.

In a moment of regret, La Tuta concedes in his new post: “I have committed many crimes like an idiot, and I will have to pay for them when the time comes, but I don’t plan to do that on this earth.”

“I am not going to give myself up. I am going to fight until the end.”

The man with a $2.5m bounty on his head was previously open about his dealings with international customers.

He told Channel 4 News earlier this year that he had started doing business with the Chinese, declaring they “have a right to do business and expand their markets”.

“The Chinese have some huge transnationals and they are tough mother******s !”