An alleged drug lord being held by Mexican authorities says that for three months he hid the fugitive wanted in the shooting seven months ago of Paraguay footballer Salvador Cabanas.
Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as ''La Barbie,'' said in a transcript released by authorities that he sheltered Jose Jorge Balderas, who is the prime suspect in the shooting of Cabanas on Jan. 25 at a bar in Mexico City. Balderas remains at large.
Born in the border city of Laredo, Texas, Valdez was captured Monday and authorities say he is responsible for dozens of murders and drug-related violence.
Valdez said he scolded Balderas - one of his henchmen - over the shooting.
''They were friends those two,'' Valdez said. ''But that day Cabanas was in a bad mood and they started to argue.''
Valdez said he hid Balderas on the outskirts of Mexico City. He said he did not know the current whereabouts of Balderas.
Valdez, who got his improbable nickname from his fair complexion, is wanted in the United States for allegedly smuggling tons of cocaine. In Mexico, he is blamed for a brutal turf war that has included bodies hung from bridges, decapitations and shootouts as he and a rival fought for control of the divided Beltran Leyva cartel.
Cabanas survived the point-blank shooting in the head and still has a small bullet fragment lodged in his skull. Surgeons said at the time it was too dangerous to try to remove it.
Cabanas has been recovering in a Buenos Aires rehabilitation center and has regained much of his mobility. He played for Mexico club America and was to have starred in Paraguay's 2010 World Cup team in South Africa.
He has no memory of the shooting and told a judge last month that he does not know why he was attacked. Witnesses have said Cabanas and Balderas got into an argument when Balderas questioned the Paraguayan's performances for his club.
