Mexico captures infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero

Infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985, was captured Friday by Mexican forces almost a decade after strolling out of a Mexican jail and returning to drug trafficking, in keeping with the Mexico’s navy.

Caro Quintero was arrested after a search canine named “Max” discovered him hiding in brush within the city of San Simon in Sinaloa state throughout a joint operation by the navy and Attorney General’s Office, in keeping with an announcement from the navy. The web site was within the mountains close to Sinaloa’s border with the northern border state of Chihuahua.

Mexico’s nationwide arrest registry listed the time of Caro Quintero’s arrest as round noon. There had been two pending arrest orders for him in addition to an extradition request from the U.S. authorities.

A navy Blackhawk helicopter carrying 15 individuals crashed close to the coastal metropolis of Los Mochis in the course of the operation, killing 14 of these aboard, the navy assertion mentioned. The out there information indicated it suffered an “accident,” the reason for which had not but been decided, the assertion mentioned.

Caro Quintero had walked free in 2013 after 28 years in jail when a courtroom overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. The brutal homicide marked a low level in U.S.-Mexico relations.

Caro Quintero, the previous chief of the Guadalajara cartel, had since returned to drug trafficking and unleashed bloody turf battles within the northern Mexico border state of Sonora.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has maintained that he’s not excited by detaining drug lords and prefers to keep away from violence.

But the arrest got here simply days after López Obrador met with U.S. President Joe Biden within the White House.

There had been tensions between the Mexican authorities and the DEA after Mexico enacted a regulation limiting the U.S. company’s operations. But not too long ago, the DEA’s new head in Mexico obtained a visa, which the U.S. officers marked as an indication of progress within the relationship.

Shortly earlier than Caro Quintero’s arrest Friday, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar informed a gathering of reporters there had been progress within the safety relationship.

“I have been in meetings with the foreign minister and with the security Cabinet, along with all our agencies that have included the new head of the DEA sitting at my right hand,” Salazar mentioned. “So if we weren’t welcome here in Mexico that wouldn’t happen.”

An appeals courtroom overturned Caro Quintero’s verdict in 2013, however the Supreme Court upheld the sentence. It was too late by then; Caro Quintero was spirited off in a ready car.

He was on the FBI’s most needed checklist, with a $20 million reward for his seize by means of the State Department’s Narcotics Rewards Program. He was added to the FBI’s prime 10 most needed checklist in 2018.

Caro Quintero was one of many main suppliers of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana to the United States within the late Nineteen Seventies. He blamed Camarena for a raid on a marijuana plantation in 1984. In 1985, Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, allegedly on orders from Caro Quintero. His tortured physique was discovered a month later.

The DEA didn’t instantly remark. In an announcement Friday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland mentioned his workplace will search Caro-Quintero’s “immediate extradition.”

“There is no hiding place for anyone who kidnaps, tortures, and murders American law enforcement,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland mentioned. “We are deeply grateful to Mexican authorities for their capture and arrest of Rafael Caro Quintero. Today’s arrest is the culmination of tireless work by DEA and their Mexican partners to bring Caro-Quintero to justice for his alleged crimes, including the torture and execution of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. We shall be looking for his speedy extradition to the United States so he will be tried for these crimes within the very justice system Special Agent Camarena died defending.

“We join in mourning the 14 Mexican servicemembers who gave their lives in service to their country and extend our condolences to the loved ones they left behind.” 

Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of worldwide operations, mentioned Caro Quintero was believed to have been working independently most not too long ago, although there had been rumors he was again with the Sinaloa cartel.

Caro Quintero was from Badiraguato, Sinaloa, the identical space as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the previous Sinaloa cartel chief now serving a life sentence within the United States. He ultimately turned one of many “godfathers” of Mexican drug trafficking.

Vigil referred to as Caro Quintero’s arrest a shock, contemplating López Obrador’s said disinterest in going after drug cartel leaders, however he added that the DEA would by no means cease in search of somebody who killed an agent.

“We didn’t see a lot of effort (to capture Caro Quintero) in the last several years, especially when (López Obrador) came in and immediately started to dismantle a lot of the infrastructure and the bilateral relationships between the U.S. and Mexico relative to drug trafficking,” Vigil mentioned.

After seeing Caro Quintero stroll out of a Mexican jail as soon as already, Vigil mentioned he hopes the federal government will not threat a repeat – Guzman twice escaped from Mexican most safety prisons – and would conform to a possible U.S. extradition request.

In Sonora, one of many state’s hit hardest by Caro Quintero’s efforts to reclaim his territory, there was a hope his arrest might assist.

“I believe in Sonora, in general, there could be calm, and yes, relief for us, because I believe the disappearances will diminish,” mentioned Cecilia Duarte, an activist with a workforce of volunteer searchers in Sonora who search for the clandestine graves of the disappeared. Some activists have been threatened and even killed in Sonora amid Caro Quintero’s turf wars with the sons of “El Chapo.”

But, Duarte mentioned, Caro Quintero “is only part (of the conflict), the conflict doesn’t end.”