Mexico says drug witness died in apparent suicide

MEXICO CITY — A top drug cartel suspect who turned state's evidence has been found dead in an apparent suicide, while a body found in Guerrero state was identified as a rebel leader who accused the state governor of drug ties, Mexican law enforcement said Saturday.

Jesus Zambada Reyes, identified as the nephew of drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, was found dead of asphyxiation at a house in Mexico City, the attorney general's office said in a statement.

He was found hanged with a shoelace Friday.

Zambada Reyes was a "cooperating witness," the statement said, but it did not specify if he was being held in custody or under a witness-protection program. Prosecutors say they will continue investigating the death.

Zambada Reyes was considered one of the top operators of the Sinaloa drug cartel when he was arrested in October 2008 and is accused of smuggling cocaine and methamphetamines through the Mexico City airport.

Also Saturday, investigative police in Guerrero said they identified the body of Omar Guerrero Solis, an alleged member of a tiny leftist guerrilla group, the People's Insurgent Revolutionary Army. He was found in a makeshift grave in a mountain village, said Valentin Diaz Reyes, investigative police director.

The body had four bullet wounds.

Guerrero Solis told local media in May that he believed Gov. Zeferino Torreblanca had ties to the Sinaloa cartel. He accused the army of not detaining Sinaloa gunmen, while cracking down on members of the rival Beltran Leyva cartel. Torreblanca denies the accusations.