MEXICO CITY – A drug lord found guilty of orchestrating the torture and murder of a Drug Enforcement Agency employee was arrested in northern Mexico on Friday, according to Mexican officials, bringing a long-standing case. is a source of tension with the United States getting one step closer. to solve.
Mexican officials say the drug lord, Rafael Caro Quintero, was arrested in a coordinated operation involving the Mexican marines and the country’s prosecutor’s office near the town of San Simón in the country. State of Sinaloa.
Caro Quintero was discovered hiding in the bushes by a search dog named Max, according to a statement from the Mexican marines.
Two arrest warrants have been issued for Caro Quintero’s arrest, as well as for extradition to the United States, officials said. According to court records, the former crime boss has been indicted in federal court in Brooklyn since 2020 on several drug trafficking charges.
Caro Quintero was convicted of masterminding the 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, known as Kiki, and was placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list in 2018, after he was released in 2013 according to the law. He has been on the run ever since.
In a move that took US authorities by surprise, Caro Quintero was serving a 28-year, 40-year sentence when he was abruptly released by a judge who ruled he was not tried. appropriate in federal court instead of state court for the murder of Mr. Camarena.
The torture and murder of Camarena, who operated undercover, is seen as an inflection point in Mexico’s violent war against drug cartels, and has long been a sore point for drug cartels. US law enforcement officials, as well as being a source of friction with Washington. .
Camarena’s brutal murder is considered one of the worst episodes in the DEA’s history, and the arrest of Caro Quintero has long been seen as the agency’s unfinished business.
The United States sought the extradition of Caro Quintero at the time of his release. He has long maintained that he did not direct the killing of Mr. Camarena.
The arrest of the notorious drug lord, who founded the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel, comes just days after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico met President Biden in Washington.
In a joint statement after the meeting, both leaders said they “reaffirmed our commitment to jointly addressing major security issues affecting our nations, including including the challenges of fentanyl, arms trafficking and human trafficking”.
Hours after Mr. Caro Quintero’s arrest, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed outside the nearby city of Los Mochis, killing 14 Marines on board; However, according to Mexican officials, there is still no evidence that the two incidents are related.
The arrest of Caro Quintero could be seen as an important victory for López Obrador, who presided over one of the bloodiest episodes in Mexican history, despite his promise to tackle crime and stamp out turn off violence.
The arrest also shows the ongoing cooperation between the US and Mexican security forces, a relationship that has become increasingly strained since Mexico. The law was approved last year restrict the activities of foreign agents and lift their diplomatic immunity.
“This operation requires a very flexible exchange of information between the Marines and US agencies,” said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst with Mexico City. “It’s an indication that at least at this level, at the agency level, the partnership still exists.”
But despite its symbolic significance, analysts warn that the actual impact of Caro Quintero’s arrest will be limited, as he may no longer be a major figure in the world of crime. organization in Mexico, which has become increasingly fragmented in recent years and less centralized. large cartel.
Falko Ernst, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said: “In terms of bilateral relations, above all satisfying the pressure of the DEA, that is a big deal. “But if you look at it from the perspective this causes armed conflict on the ground and really provides a solution to the violence, he’s still a player, but not a major part.”
However, in Mexican drug legend, Mr. Caro Quintero is still a towering figure. Known as the “drug of the methamphetamines,” he was a pioneer in the production and trafficking of large quantities of drugs into the United States.
According to the 2020 indictment, Caro Quintero led an extensive human trafficking ring that began at least 1980, responsible for the production and export of “many tons of heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana, from Mexico into USA.”
According to the indictment, the organization was also responsible for transporting tons of cocaine from South America to the United States, generating millions of dollars in profits that were then laundered back into Mexico.
The indictment also notes that leaders of the Caro Quintero organization “recruit ‘sicarios,’ or assassins, who commit a variety of acts of violence, including murder, assault, kidnapping, and conduct torture.”
By far the most notorious of those murders was that of Mr. Camarena in 1985.
The DEA agent was operating undercover in Mexico when he was kidnapped in February of that year. Mr. Caro Quintero is said to have raged against the US agency after Mr. Camarena helped uncover a massive $160 million cannabis plantation.
Mr. Camarena endured brutal torture before being murdered: A forensic expert said he was killed by a blunt object to the face and head. His mutilated body was found bound hands and feet and wrapped in plastic bags at a farm near the city of Guadalajara nearly a month later.
The murder, the first killing of an American agent on Mexican soil since both countries began working together against the gangs, sent shockwaves across both sides of the border and helped hasten the fight against gangs. drug.
“The murder aroused a ‘sense of revenge’ and a desire” to disrupt the Mexican drug trade in more personal and drastic ways, said Ernst, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. ever”. “It was one of those big events” that helped influence “the whole strategy that was then formulated to go after the heads of these organizations.”
Camarena’s death has also become a focal point in cartel lore, portrayed in numerous television series, including most recently the hit Netflix show “Narcos: Mexico”. It was also bitterly remembered by the DEA, which named an office in San Diego after Mr. Camarena.
The Red Ribbon Week anti-drug campaign was also originally launched as a way to remember the fallen soldier.
Mr. Caro Quintero initially evaded arrest and fled to Costa Rica, where he was later tracked by US agents. After being returned to Mexico, he was tried and found guilty of masterminding the murder of Mr. Camarena in 1989.
But a judge overturned the conviction in 2013, freeing Mr. Caro Quintero, after which he appeared to return to business.
According to his indictment, the gang leader helped smuggle drugs into the United States multiple times between 2015 and 2016, including thousands of kilograms of cocaine as well as various types of methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin.
