Mexico receives U.S. extradition request for notorious drug lord linked to 1985 DEA agent’s murder
The United States Department of Justice has submitted a request for the extradition of Rafael Caro Quintero, who is accused of the 1985 killing of DEA agent Kiki Camarena, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed Tuesday.
The petition comes a month following the 69-year-old infamous drug lord’s arrest by security forces in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.
Caro Quintero was taken into custody July 15 in the Sinaloa municipality of Choic, almost a decade after he was released from prison and returned to drug trafficking, although not at the same level when he shared control of the defunct Guadalajara Cartel.
Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero (center) was arrested by security forces in Sinaloa on July 15. On Tuesday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed that the government has received a request from the United States Department of Justice to extradite the 69-year-old drug lord who is accused of killing DEA agent Kiki Camarena in 1985
The investigation led by Kiki Camarena brought down the Guadalajara Cartel, but not before he was kidnapped, tortured and killed by the criminal organization in 1985
Considered a pioneer of Latin America drug traffickers, Caro Quintero has managed to slow down his transfer to American authorities after filing three motions in court, including one that challenges the pending extradition.
‘Mr. Caro Quintero has filed (writs of) amparos, so his case is in the Prosecutor’s Office and in the Judiciary, for what corresponds to us, we are going to establish our position with the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior (Adán Augusto López) and the Secretary of Relations Exteriors (Marcelo Ebrard)’, López Obrador said during his daily press briefing at the National Palace on Tuesday morning.
The leftist president also took a shot against the federal agency that combats drug trafficking and distribution, decrying the ‘treacherous interference by United States government agencies’ after the DEA had expressed its lack of trust in the Ministry of National Defense.
‘Now our sovereignty is respected and we have great confidence in the Armed Forces of Mexico, the Army and the Navy, and we do not accept those comments because they are a lack of respect for our country, our sovereignty,’ López Obrador said.
DailyMail.com reached out to the DEA for comment.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called out ‘treacherous interference by United States government agencies’ after the DEA had expressed its lack of trust in the Ministry of National Defense
U.S. military personnel carry the coffin containing the body of DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena following his 1985 murder
López Obrador also dismissed reports that the Mexican military had impeded the capture of Caro Quintero on 14 occasions dating back to 2013.
Caro Quintero walked free in August 2013, after 28 years in prison, when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of agent Camarena, which marked a low point in US-Mexico relations.
The Supreme Court upheld the sentence five days following his release.
Later in 2013, Caro Quintero penned a letter to then-President Enrique Peña Nieto asking the government to stop searching for him because he had already done his time in prison for the Camarena murder.
He 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.
The United States had offered a $20 million reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of Rafael Caro Quintero
The former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel returned to drug trafficking and unleashed bloody turf battles in the northern Mexico border state of Sonora.
Caro Quintero was one of the primary suppliers of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana to the United States in the late 1970s.
Known as the ‘Narco of Narcos,’ he was one of the co-founders of the Guadalajara Cartel, which is featured in the Netflix series ‘Narcos.’
The defunct criminal organization was targeted by the DEA in the 1980s.
The cartel sought revenge on Camarena after the Mexican military raided a 2,500-acre marijuana plantation in 1984. Caro Quintero accused Camarena for a raid and his henchmen kidnapped him in Guadalajara on February 7, 1985.
Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala, who was employed by the Mexican government and DEA, was kidnapped the same day in a separate incident.
The tortured bodies of Camarena and Zavala were located on March 5, 1985, wrapped in plastic and dumped at an abandoned property in La Angostura, a city in the state of Michoacán.
Caro Quintero would flee to Costa Rica with his girlfriend and was arrested with six other people on April 4, 1985.
Following his unexpected release from prison, Caro Quintero build his presence back up in the drug trade.
He had a fallout in late 2020 with the four sons of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, who are known as ‘Los Chapitos’, despite his ties to the jailed drug lord’s Sinaloa Cartel and created his own network, known as the Caborca Cartel.
