sought by the United States since his presumed participation in the assassination of police officer Kiki Camarena in 1985, Rafael Caro Quintero was arrested in northern Mexico by local authorities.
Le Monde with AFP
Rafael Caro Quintero, a historic Mexican drug trafficker was arrested on Friday July 15 by naval agents in the state of Chihuahua (North). A source at the Ministry of the Navy confirmed the arrest at the Agency France Presse (AFP), refusing to any detail.
69 years old, he appeared on the list of the ten fugitives most sought after by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the removal, torture and murder of the officer of the American anti -Drogue agency (DEA ) Kiki Camarena, in Mexico in 1985, according to the FBI. Washington had offered $ 20 million (19.8 million euros) for its capture.
The United States Ministry welcomed his arrest on Friday evening, asking that he be extradited to the United States. “There is no place to hide for those who remove, torture or assassinate representatives of the American police,” said Minister Merrick Garland in a press release.
central figure The “Narcos Mexico” series
Mexican is one of the founding members of the first great drug cartel, that of Guadalajara, in the late 1970s. “He retained an influential position in the Sinaloa cartel and in the traffic organization Caro-Quintero drugs “, according to the FBI. Arrested for the first time in 1985, he had been tried and sentenced to Mexico to 40 years in prison. But a judge had released it in 2013 for a procedural defect. Shortly after, Mexican justice had again called for its capture.
The United States had also asked for his arrest and extradition for the kidnapping and assassination of Enrique “Kiki” Camarena as well as for drug trafficking. “I did not kidnap him, I did not tortured him, I did not kill him,” he defended himself in an interview since the hiding at the weekly procedures in July 2016. “I Have been on the scene of the crime, this is my only participation “.
Rafael Caro Quintero is one of the main characters in the series “Narcos Mexico” which traces in detail the formation of the Guadalajara cartel, the Secret War of DEA in Mexico, arrest, torture and assassination of agent Camarena. The head of the Guadalajara cartel, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, has been in prison since 1989 for this assassination but also denies his participation.