MEXICO CITY – A drug lord convicted of orchestrating the torture and murder of a Drug Enforcement Agent was arrested in northern Mexico on Friday, according to Mexican officials, bringing a case that has long since become a source of tension with the United States one step closer. Resolution.
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 state of Sinaloa, officials said. Mexico said.
Officials said an arrest warrant for Caro Quintero had been issued to pave the way for his extradition to the United States.
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. 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. .
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 was the founder of the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel, comes just days after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico met with President Biden in Washington.
In a joint statement after the meeting, both leaders said they had “reaffirmed our commitment to work together to address major security issues affecting our nation, including the challenges of fentanyl, arms trafficking and human trafficking.”
The arrest of Caro Quintero can also be seen as an important victory for López Obrador, who presided over one of the bloodiest episodes in Mexican history, despite promising to tackle crime and quell the violence.
