Famous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the assassination of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985, has been captured by Mexican forces nearly a decade after leaving a Mexican prison and returning to prison. drug trafficking, according to the Mexican government’s national arrest record. .
Key points:
- Caro Quintero walked free in 2013 after 28 years in prison
- He was serving a sentence for the kidnapping and murder of U.S. DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.
- He was on the FBI’s most wanted list, with a $ 20 million reward for his capture.
A Mexican naval official, who was not allowed to speak publicly and agreed to confirm the action only if he was not cited by name, also confirmed the arrest.
The record indicated the time of Caro Quintero’s arrest around noon and said he was in traffic, but there were no further details about the capture immediately.
Caro Quintero was released in 2013 after 28 years in prison when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent Enrique. ” Kiki “Camarena.
The brutal assassination marked a low point in US-Mexico relations.
Caro Quintero was arrested in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, on July 15. (Reuters: Mexican Navy)
The Supreme Court later upheld the sentence, but by then it was too late: Caro Quintero had been evicted in a vehicle waiting for him.
Caro Quintero, the former leader of the Guadalajara cartel, had since returned to drug trafficking and had sparked bloody battles in the border state of Sonora, in northern Mexico.
Hours after the arrest of Caro Quintero, a Mexican navy helicopter crashed near Los Mochis, Sinaloa, killing 14 people on board, said Rear Admiral José Orozco, who heads the press office of the navy.
“There is no evidence that he was shot down, or that Caro Quintero was on board,” Rear Admiral Orozco said.
He did not clarify whether the helicopter was involved in the operation to stop Caro Quintero, but local media reported that the capture took place in that region of northwestern Mexico.
Tense relations are improving between the Mexican government and the DEA
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has maintained that he is not interested in detaining drug lords and prefers to avoid violence.
But the arrest came just days after Lopez Obrador met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House.
There had been tensions between the Mexican government and the DEA after Mexico enacted a law limiting the U.S. agency’s operations.
But recently, the new head of the DEA in Mexico received a visa, which U.S. officials marked as a sign of progress in the relationship.
Shortly before Caro Quintero’s arrest on Friday, US Ambassador Ken Salazar told a reporter meeting that progress had been made in the security relationship.
“I have been in meetings with the Secretary of State and the Security Cabinet, along with all of our agencies that have included the new head of the DEA sitting to my right,” Salazar said.
“So if we weren’t welcome here in Mexico, that wouldn’t happen.”
Quintero was on the FBI’s most wanted list, with a $ 20 million reward for his capture through the State Department’s Narcotics Rewards Program.
He was added to the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list in 2018.
Camarena’s tortured body was found in 1985, a month after hers was abducted.
Caro Quintero was one of the leading suppliers of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana in the United States in the late 1970s.
He blamed Special Agent Camarena for a raid on a marijuana plantation in 1984.
In 1985, Special Agent Camarena was abducted in Guadalajara, allegedly on the orders of Caro Quintero. His tortured body was found a month later.
Mike Vigil, the former head of international operations at the DEA, said Caro Quintero was believed to have been operating independently more recently, although there were rumors that he had returned with the Sinaloa cartel.
Caro Quintero was from Badiraguato, Sinaloa, the same area as Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel that now serves a life sentence in the United States.
He eventually became one of the “godfathers” of Mexican drug trafficking.
“The conflict is not over”
Vigil described Caro Quintero’s arrest as a surprise, given Lopez Obrador’s stated disinterest in prosecuting drug cartel leaders, but added that the DEA would never stop looking for someone who killed an agent.
“It simply came to our notice then [to capture Caro Quintero] in recent years, especially when [López Obrador] it came in and immediately began to dismantle much of the infrastructure and bilateral relations between the US and Mexico in relation to drug trafficking, ”Vigil said.
After seeing Caro Quintero come out of a Mexican prison once, Mr. Vigil said he hoped the government would not risk repeating – Guzman twice escaped from Mexican maximum security prisons – and would accept a likely request for extradition from the United States.
Caro Quintero was one of the leading suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana in the United States in the late 1970s. (Reuters)
In Sonora, one of the states hardest hit by Caro Quintero’s efforts to reclaim its territory, his arrest was expected to help.
“I think in Sonora, in general, there could be calm, and yes, relief for us, because I think the disappearances will decrease,” said Cecilia Duarte, an activist on a team of volunteer searchers in Sonora looking for clandestine graves. of the missing.
Some activists have been threatened and even killed in Sonora amid Caro Quintero’s territorial wars with the children of El Chapo.
But, Duarte said, Caro Quintero “is only one part (of the conflict), the conflict does not end.”