Rafael Caro Quintero, who is charged with the 1985 murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena, has been requested for extradition by the US Department of Justice, according to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who made the announcement on Tuesday.
The 69-year-old famed drug kingpin was apprehended by security personnel in the northwest state of Sinaloa one month prior to the petition’s filing.
Nearly ten years after being freed from jail and returning to drug trafficking, but not at the same level as when he shared leadership of the long-gone Guadalajara Cartel, Caro Quintero was apprehended on July 15 in the Sinaloa town of Choic.
Caro Quintero, regarded as a pioneer of drug traffickers in Latin America, has been able to delay extradition to the United States by submitting three applications with the court, one of which contests the impending extradition.
During his daily press conference at the National Palace on Tuesday morning, López Obrador stated, “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.
After the DEA indicated its lack of confidence in the Ministry of National Defense, the Marxist president fired out at the federal agency that fights drug trafficking and distribution, denouncing the “treacherous intervention by United States government authorities.”
López Obrador said, “Now that our sovereignty is respected and we have tremendous faith in the Mexican Armed Forces, the Army and the Navy, we do not accept such statements because they show a lack of respect for our nation and our sovereignty.
López Obrador also denied claims that starting in 2013, the Mexican military had obstructed Caro Quintero’s apprehension 14 times.
When a judge reversed Caro Quintero’s 40-year sentence for the 1985 abduction and murder of agent Camarena, which was a low moment in US-Mexico relations, he was released from jail in August 2013 after serving 28 years.
Five days after he was released from prison, the Supreme Court affirmed the sentence.
Later that year, Caro Quintero sent a letter to the president-elect Enrique Pea Nieto requesting that the government cease looking for him since he had served his sentence for the murder of Camarena.
He was wanted by the FBI, and the State Department’s Narcotics Rewards Program offered a $20 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
2018 saw the addition of his name to the FBI’s top ten most wanted list.
In the border state of Sonora in northern Mexico, the former head of the Guadalajara Cartel resorted to narcotics trafficking and sparked vicious turf wars.
In the late 1970s, Caro Quintero was one of the main exporters of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana to the US.
He was one of the co-founders of the Guadalajara Cartel, which is depicted in the Netflix series “Narcos,” and is referred to as the “Narco of Narcos.”
The DEA attacked the disbanded criminal enterprise in the 1980s.
After the Mexican military seized a 2,500-acre marijuana farm in 1984, the cartel sought retribution against Camarena.
On February 7, 1985, Camarena was suspected of conducting a raid, and Caro Quintero’s men abducted him in Guadalajara.
Alfredo Zavala, a Mexican pilot who worked for both the DEA and the Mexican government, was abducted on the same day in a different incident.
On March 5, 1985, authorities discovered the tortured remains of Camarena and Zavala discarded at an abandoned property in La Angostura, a city in the state of Michoacán, wrapped in plastic.
Caro Quintero would escape to Costa Rica with his girlfriend before being captured on April 4, 1985, along with six other persons.
After being unexpectedly let out of jail, Caro Quintero reestablished himself in the drug trade.
Despite his connections to the incarcerated drug lord’s Sinaloa Cartel, he had a falling out with the four “Los Chapitos” Guzmán sons in late 2020 and established his own organisation, the Caborca Cartel.