Mexico’s capture of drug kingpin could be signal to US...AP
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — As Mexican marines closed in on infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero deep in the mountains of his native state of Sinaloa, it was a 6-year-old bloodhound named “Max” who rousted from the undergrowth the man allegedly responsible for the murder of a U.S. DEA agent more than three decades ago.
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 made clear his disinterest in pursuing drug lords.
Yet on Friday, three days after López Obrador and U.S. President Joe Biden met in the White House, the most wanted target of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was in Mexican custody.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement late Friday that Caro Quintero was arrested for extradition to the U.S. and he would be held at the maximum security Altiplano prison about 50 miles west of Mexico City.
“It seems to me that in the private talks between President Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel (López Obrador) they surely agreed to turning over high-profile drug traffickers again, which had been suspended,” said security analyst David Saucedo.
Cooperation between the DEA and Mexico’s marines had led to some of the highest-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 clearly it was what was in fact needed,” Saucedo said.
Samuel González, who founded the organized crime office in Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and now a security analyst, said the capture may not have a major effect on the map of organized crime in Mexico, as Caro Quintero was not as powerful as decades ago, and it might even generate more violence in territories such as Sonora, at the US border.
But he said that to López Obrador’s benefit, the arrest “shows evidence that there’s no protection of capos” from his administration.
González believes Caro Quintero has long been a thorn in the bilateral relationship, but said that “without doubt” his capture was fruit of the recent negotiations in Washington.
“The Americans never stopped pressing for his arrest,” González said.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar both expressed gratitude for Mexico’s efforts to catch the man blamed for the brutal torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985 — a case that brought a low point in U.S.-Mexico relations.
“This achievement is a testament to 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 U.S. government would seek his immediate extradition.
“My hope is that with the capture of Caro Quintero, that that will mend a lot of tensions between the DEA and Mexico”, said Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of international operations.
Mexico’s navy and Attorney’s General Office led the operation deep in the mountains that straddle the border between Sinaloa and Chihuahua states, many miles from any paved road. They found Caro Quintero, with help of “Max,” hiding in brush in a place in Sinaloa called San Simon.
A navy Blackhawk helicopter carrying 15 people crashed near the coastal city of Los Mochis during the operation, killing 14 of those aboard. The navy said in a statement that it appeared to have been an accident, with the cause still under investigation.
López Obrador said Friday night that the marines had been providing support to the forces who captured Caro Quintero.
Caro Quintero came from Badiraguato, Sinaloa, the same township as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, which came later. Caro Quintero was one of the founders of the Guadalajara cartel and according to the DEA was one of the primary suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana to the United States in the late 1970s and 1980s.
He blamed Camarena for a raid on a huge marijuana plantation in 1984. The next year, Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, allegedly on orders from Caro Quintero. His tortured body was found a month later.
Caro Quintero was first captured in Costa Rica in 1985 and was serving a 40-year sentence in Mexico when an appeals court overturned his verdict in 2013. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence, but it was too late — Caro Quintero had been spirited off in a waiting vehicle.
Caro Quintero was added to FBI’s 10 most wanted list in 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 supposedly no verdict had been handed down against the drug lord after 27 years in jail. López Obrador also depicted a later warrant for his re-arrest as an example of U.S. pressure.
“Once he was out, they had to look for him again, because the United States demanded he shouldn’t have been released, but legally the appeal was justified,” López Obrador said.
Presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez said at the time, “The president was just saying that it was a legal aberration that the judge had not issued a verdict on Mr. Caro Quintero after 27 years ... but he was not defending his release.”
While Caro Quintero was a fugitive, Mexican reporter Anabel Hernandez interviewed him twice in the mountains of northern Mexico without revealing the location. Caro Quintero claimed in those interviews that he was no longer involved in the drug trade.
Photo of the dog at link:
sábado, 16 julio 2022 | 06:00
Ciudad de México.– Gracias al adiestramiento de un canino de la Marina llamado Max, Rafael Caro Quintero, quien es uno de los hombres más buscados por Estados Unidos, fue detenido ayer en la localidad de San Simón, en Choix, Sinaloa.
Mediante un operativo conjunto entre la Fiscalía General de la República (FGR) y la Secretaría de Marina (Semar), el líder histórico del narcotráfico, buscado en México y Estados Unidos por el asesinato del exagente de la Agencia Antidrogas de Estados Unidos (DEA) Enrique Camarena ocurrido en 1985, fue ubicado en este municipio del norte de la entidad, en los límites con Chihuahua.
Al dar a conocer ayer la detención del capo, la Semar informó que Quintero se escondía entre matorrales, donde fue encontrado por un elemento canino de la institución.
“Se informa que citado objetivo fue localizado entre matorrales por un elemento canino de esta Institución, de nombre ‘Max’, cuyo adiestramiento de búsqueda y rescate permitió su ubicación”, reportó la dependencia en un comunicado.
La Semar detalló que la captura fue gracias a trabajos de campo y gabinete realizados desde la liberación de Quintero en 2013, quien cuenta con dos órdenes de aprehensión en su contra, así como una orden de extradición a Estados Unidos.
Desde abril de 2018, la DEA había aumentado la recompensa por el capo, pasando de 5 millones a 20 millones de dólares.
Caro Quintero fue señalado además como parte de una empresa criminal de narcotráfico entre 1980 y 2017.
Originalmente, EU mantenía abierta una acusación de 10 cargos criminales contra el exintegrante del Cártel de Guadalajara ante la Corte Federal del Distrito Central de California centrada en el secuestro, tortura y asesinato de Camarena.
En agosto de 2013 y tras 28 años de reclusión por una sentencia de 40, Caro Quintero abandonó la cárcel estatal de Puente Grande luego de que un tribunal federal estimara que el capo debió ser juzgado en el fuero local y no el federal por el homicidio de Camarena.
Tras su liberación, el Gobierno de EU demandó su captura con fines de extradición.
Ella es Max, canino de la Marina
Edad: Seis años; nació el 20 de abril de 2016
Sexo: Hembra
Raza: Bloodhound
Peso: 35.5 kilos
Función zootécnica: Rastreo
• Tiene un largo historial al interior de la Marina
• Es distinguida por su amplia habilidad en el rastreo
• Se especializa en la búsqueda de armas y dinero en el campo
• Fue incluida en el operativo de ayer viernes