Mexico’s capture of drug lord could be a signal for the United States

While the United States’ motivation to find Caro Quintero was never in doubt – hence the $20 million reward for information leading to his capture – there was less certainty about the commitment of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had clearly expressed his disinterest in prosecuting drug barons.

Yet on Friday, three days after López Obrador and US President Joe Biden met at the White House, the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s most wanted target was being held in Mexico.

Mexico’s attorney general’s office said in a statement on Friday that Caro Quintero had been arrested for extradition to the United States and would be held at the Altiplano maximum security prison, about 80 km east. west of Mexico.

“It seems to me that during the private talks between President Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel (López Obrador), they surely agreed to re-deliver high-profile drug traffickers, who had been suspended,” the analyst said. safety David Saucedo.

Cooperation between the DEA and Mexican navies had led to some of the most high-profile captures during previous administrations, but not under López Obrador, Saucedo noted.

Both presidents face domestic pressure to do more against drug traffickers. With Caro Quintero’s arrest, “narcos are being captured again and I believe that was clearly what was actually needed,” Saucedo said.

Samuel González, who founded the organized crime bureau in Mexico’s attorney general’s office and now a security analyst, said that for López Obrador’s benefit, the arrest “shows proof that there is no protection of the capos” of his administration.

González believes Caro Quintero has long been a thorn in the bilateral relationship, but said “without a doubt” his capture was the result of recent negotiations in Washington.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland and US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar both expressed gratitude for Mexico’s efforts to catch the man accused of the brutal torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985 – a case that marked a low point in the United States. Relations with Mexico.

“This achievement demonstrates Mexico’s determination to bring to justice someone who terrorized and destabilized Mexico during his time in the Guadalajara Cartel; and is 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.

The Mexican navy and attorney general’s office carried out the operation deep in the mountains that straddle the border between the states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua, several miles from any paved road. They found Caro Quintero, with the help of “Max”, hiding in the brush in a place in Sinaloa called San Simon.

Caro Quintero was from Badiraguato, Sinaloa, the same township as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who came later. 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.

He blamed Camarena for a raid on a huge marijuana plantation in 1984. The following year, Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, allegedly on the orders of Caro Quintero. His tortured body was found a month later.

Caro Quintero was serving a 40-year sentence in Mexico when an appeals court overturned its verdict in 2013. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence, but it was too late – Caro Quintero had been carried away in a waiting vehicle.

Caro Quintero was added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List of 2018 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 no verdict had been reached against the drug lord after 27 years in prison. López Obrador also described a subsequent warrant for his re-arrest as an example of American pressure.

“Once released, they had to search for him again, because the United States demanded that he should not have been released, but legally the appeal was justified,” López Obrador said.

Presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez said at the time: “The president was simply saying that it was a legal aberration that the judge had not issued a verdict against Mr. Caro Quintero after 27 years…but he did not was not advocating his release”.