He was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985 and performed by Tenoch Huerta on the Netflix collection.
Notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985, was captured Friday by Mexican forces practically a decade after strolling out of a Mexican jail and returning to drug trafficking, Mexico’s navy stated.
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 Legal professional Normal’s Workplace, a navy assertion stated. The positioning 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 have been two pending arrest orders for him in addition to an extradition request from the U.S. authorities.
Mexico’s Legal professional Normal’s Workplace stated in a press release late Friday that Caro Quintero was arrested for extradition and can be held on the most safety Altiplano jail about 50 miles west of Mexico Metropolis.
A really brief video section launched by the navy confirmed Caro Quintero — his face blurred — wearing denims, a soaking moist blue shirt and saggy khaki jacket held by each arms by males carrying camouflage uniforms and carrying assault rifles.
A navy Blackhawk helicopter carrying 15 folks crashed close to the coastal metropolis of Los Mochis through the operation, killing 14 of these aboard, the navy assertion stated. The accessible info indicated it suffered an “accident,” the reason for which had not but been decided, the assertion stated.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated by way of Twitter that the helicopter crashed shortly earlier than touchdown after supporting those that performed the seize of Caro Quintero. He expressed condolences to the households of the victims and stated the crash can be investigated.
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 desirous about detaining drug lords and prefers to keep away from violence.
However the arrest got here simply days after López Obrador met with U.S. President Joe Biden within the White Home.
There had been tensions between the Mexican authorities and the DEA after Mexico enacted a regulation limiting the U.S. company’s operations. However lately, the DEA’s new head in Mexico acquired 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 advised a gathering of reporters there had been progress within the safety relationship.
“I've been in conferences with the international minister and with the safety Cupboard, together with all our companies which have included the brand new head of the DEA sitting at my proper hand,” Salazar stated. “So if we weren’t welcome right here in Mexico that wouldn’t occur.”
An appeals courtroom overturned Caro Quintero’s verdict in 2013, however the Supreme Courtroom upheld the sentence. It was too late by then; Caro Quintero was spirited off in a ready automobile.
He was on the FBI’s most wished checklist, with a $20 million reward for his seize by means of the State Division’s Narcotics Rewards Program. He was added to the FBI’s high 10 most wished checklist in 2018.
Actor Tenoch Huerta portrayed Caro Quintero on Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico, which premiered in November 2018 and targeted on the origins of Mexico’s drug commerce. Michael Peña performed Kiki Camarena on the drama collection.
Caro Quintero was one of many main suppliers of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana to america within the late 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.
Late Friday, U.S. Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland expressed the U.S. authorities’s deep gratitude to Mexican authorities for Caro Quintero’s arrest and supplied condolences for the Mexican army personnel who died within the helicopter crash.
“There isn't any hiding place for anybody who kidnaps, tortures, and murders American regulation enforcement,” he stated in a press release. “At this time’s arrest is the fruits of tireless work by DEA and their Mexican companions to carry Caro-Quintero to justice for his alleged crimes, together with the torture and execution of DEA Particular Agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena. We will likely be in search of his rapid extradition to america so he might be tried for these crimes within the very justice system Particular Agent Camarena died defending.”
Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of worldwide operations, stated Caro Quintero was believed to have been working independently most lately, 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 in america. He ultimately turned one of many “godfathers” of Mexican drug trafficking.
Vigil stated he was shocked by Caro Quintero’s arrest, contemplating López Obrador’s acknowledged 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 plenty of effort [to capture Caro Quintero] within the final a number of years, particularly when [López Obrador] got here in and instantly began to dismantle plenty of the infrastructure and the bilateral relationships between the U.S. and Mexico relative to drug trafficking,” Vigil stated.
In Sonora, one of many state’s hit hardest by Caro Quintero’s efforts to reclaim his territory, there was a hope his arrest may assist.
“I consider in Sonora, normally, there could possibly be calm, and sure, reduction for us, as a result of I consider the disappearances will diminish,” stated Cecilia Duarte, an activist with a crew 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.”
However, Duarte stated, Caro Quintero “is barely half [of the conflict], the battle doesn’t finish.”