Iván Velázquez Caballero (born February 10, 1970), also known by his alias El Talibán, is a Mexican convicted drug lord of the criminal group known as Los Zetas.

Prior to his arrest, Los Zetas had divided and Velázquez Caballero's faction had been fighting against Miguel Treviño Morales, the leader of the organization, causing a series of massacres and shootings in northern Mexico.

Upon his release from prison, he then became the regional boss of the Gulf Cartel in Nuevo Laredo and was eventually sent to the state of Zacatecas in 2007, where he reportedly had around 400 men at his beck and call.

[14] Since late 2011, Velázquez Caballero had announced his discontent for Treviño Morales through a series of public banners left behind in several parts of northeastern Mexico and by uploading several videos on YouTube, where he accused him of setting up the arrests or deaths of his own men.

[15][16] The Mexican police found 14 dead bodies stuffed inside a SUV on 9 August 2012 along a highway in the city of San Luis Potosí.

[19][20] The number "14" may possibly be a reference to Z-14, a popular deceased commander of Los Zetas named Efraín Teodoro Torres, or to the fourteen original founders.

Reportedly, the fourteen bodies dumped were members of the Coahuila-based faction led by Velázquez Caballero (Z-50 or El Talibán), one of the leaders of the organization.

[24][25] It was later confirmed that the massacre was triggered after Velázquez Caballero's desire to leave Los Zetas and form an alliance with the Gulf Cartel to backlash Treviño Morales' faction.

[26] Édgar Morales Pérez, the mayor-elect of a small town in San Luis Potosí, was killed during the raging infighting in Los Zetas.

[27] Just after the arrest of the Gulf Cartel leader Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, 9 bodies were found dead in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas on 15 September 2012, raising the number of homicides by violent acts to 63 in the city in only eight days.

[28] Reportedly, Velázquez Caballero had tried to seize the operatives and drug distribution sites of Miguel Treviño Morales in the border city of Nuevo Laredo by attacking his assets.

[11] The following day, he was paraded in front of cameras, handcuffed, wearing a bullet-proof vest, and escorted by masked marines carrying assault rifles.

[38] According to initial reports issued by the Navy, Velázquez Caballero had controlled the operations of the cartel in the city of Monterrey in northern Mexico and worked as leader of Los Zetas in the states of San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, and Nuevo León.

[4][39][40] During his interrogation, he admitted that his income was around $30 million a month, although 70% of it went to "operation expenses" and as payments for policemen, equipment and food, and members of his organization.

This move may be a "herculean task" for him, but since both the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas are divided, "he can't complain about the good timing.