But on Friday, three days after Lopez Obrador and US President Joe Biden met at the White House, the US Drug Enforcement Agency’s most wanted target was in custody in Mexico.
Read more: Notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero arrested by Mexican forces: reports
The man allegedly responsible for killing a DEA agent more than three decades ago was plucked from the undergrowth by a hunting dog as Mexican marines closed in deep in the mountains of his native Sinaloa state. Story continues below ad The capture came at a high cost: Fourteen Mexican marines died and another was injured when a Navy Blackhawk helicopter crashed during the operation. The Navy said it appeared to be an accident, with the cause under investigation. Mexico’s Attorney General’s office said in a statement late Friday that Caro Quintero was arrested for extradition to the U.S. and will be held at the maximum-security Altiplano prison about 50 miles west of Mexico City. In this government handout photo provided by Mexico’s Navy Secretariat, agents escort drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, in Sinaloa state, Mexico, Friday, July 15, 2022, after he was captured deep in the mountains of his state. It was a 6-year-old hound that roused Caro Quintero from the undergrowth. (Mexican Navy Secretariat via AP) DEA Administrator Anne Milgram celebrated the arrest of a man widely despised by US officials for torturing and killing DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985. “Our incredible DEA team in Mexico worked in cooperation with the Mexican authorities to arrest and arrest Rafael Caro Quintero,” he said in a message to the agency late Friday. “Today’s arrest is the result of many years of blood, sweat and tears.” Story continues below ad Cooperation between the DEA and Mexico’s marines had led to some of the highest-profile arrests during previous administrations, but not under López Obrador, security analyst David Saucedo noted. “It seems to me that in the private talks between President Joe Biden and Andres Manuel (Lopez Obrador) they definitely agreed to re-deliver high-profile drug traffickers who had been suspended,” Saucedo said. Both presidents face domestic pressure to do more against drug traffickers. With the arrest of Caro Quintero, “the Narcos are being arrested again and I think it was clearly what was actually needed,” Saucedo said. US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said in a statement on Saturday that no US personnel were directly involved in the tactical operation that led to the arrest of the drug lord. “The arrest of Caro Quintero was made solely by the Mexican government.” Trending Stories
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Samuel Gonzalez, who founded the organized crime office in Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and is now a security analyst, said the arrest may not have a significant impact on Mexico’s organized crime map because Caro Quintero was not that powerful. as decades ago. and it may even spark more violence in areas like Sonora, on the US border. But he said that to López Obrador’s benefit, the arrest “shows that there is no protection of the capos” from his administration. Story continues below ad Gonzalez believes Caro Quintero has long been a thorn in bilateral relations, but said his arrest was “without a doubt” the fruit of recent negotiations in Washington. “The Americans never stopped pushing for his arrest,” Gonzalez said. 1:24 ‘Our country a little safer today’ FBI reacts to El Chapo’s life sentence ‘Our country a little safer today’ FBI reacts to El Chapo’s life sentence – July 17, 2019 US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Salazar expressed gratitude for Mexico’s arrest of the man accused of killing Camarena – a case that brought US-Mexico relations to a low point. “This achievement is a testament to Mexico’s determination to bring to justice someone who terrorized and destabilized Mexico during his time with the Guadalajara Cartel. and implicated in the kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena,” Salazar said in a statement late Friday. Garland said the US government would seek his immediate extradition. Story continues below ad “I hope that with the arrest of Caro Quintero, this will fix a lot of tensions between the DEA and Mexico,” said Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former head of international operations. The Mexican navy and the Attorney General’s Office took the operation deep into the mountains that straddle the border between the states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua, many miles from any paved road. They found Caro Quintero, with the help of “Max”, hiding in some brush in a place in Sinaloa called San Simon. Lopez Obrador said the helicopter that crashed in the coastal town of Los Mochis was supporting the operation against Caro Quintero. US officials expressed their condolences for the Marines who lost their lives. Caro Quintero was from Badiraguato, Sinaloa, the same municipality as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was later formed. Caro Quintero was one of the founders of the Guadalajara cartel and according to the DEA was one of the main suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana to the United States in the late 1970s and 1980s. Caro Quintero had blamed Camarena for a raid on a huge marijuana plantation in 1984. The following year, Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, allegedly on Caro Quintero’s orders. His tortured body was found a month later. Caro Quintero was arrested in Costa Rica in 1985 and was serving a 40-year sentence in Mexico when an appeals court overturned his conviction in 2013. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence, but it was too late – Caro Quintero had passed out in a waiting vehicle. Story continues below ad Caro Quintero was added to the FBI’s 2018 10 Most Wanted list with a $20 million reward for his capture. López Obrador had previously seemed ambivalent about his case. Last year, the president said the legal appeal that led to Caro Quintero’s release was “justified” because there was supposed to be no verdict against the drug lord after 27 years in prison. López Obrador also portrayed a subsequent warrant for his re-arrest as an example of US pressure. “As soon as he got out, they had to look for him again, because the United States asked that he not be released, but legally the appeal was justified,” López Obrador said. The president’s spokesman Jesus Ramirez said at the time: “The president was simply saying that it was a legal aberration that the judge had not issued a verdict for Mr. Caro Quintero after 27 years … but he was not advocating his release.” Mexican reporter Anabel Hernandez twice interviewed fugitive Caro Quintero in the mountains of northern Mexico without disclosing the location. Caro Quintero claimed in these interviews that he was no longer involved in the drug trade. © 2022 The Canadian Press
