Who is Rafael Caro Quintero, the drug lord captured in Mexico?
With the United States looking for an immediate extradition of the captured Mexican drug lord, we reflect on how we reached this point.
On Friday the United States confirmed that it would seek the immediate extradition of Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who has been convicted for murder and torture of a US anti-narcotics agent in 1985. But who is Quintero?
Drug lord Quintero captured and convicted
Merrick Garland, the US Attorney General announced the extradition news following the Mexican Navy’s capture of the drug lord. A federal operation managed to find Caro Quintero in the municipality of Guachochi, in the state of Chihuahua, after he was released in August 2013 due to an injunction alleging errors in the judicial procedure, a sentence that was later reversed by the Supreme Court.
The 69-year-old had already been captured in 1985 for ordering the murder of United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena that same year. He was then sentenced to 40 years in prison, but was released 12 years before completion of the sentence on a technicality. After his release, the United States government demanded his capture for extradition purposes, on charges of kidnapping and murder of a federal agent, violent crimes, possession and distribution of cocaine and marijuana, among others.
The reward for the Mexican drug trafficker is reported to be $20 million. This is the highest that the DEA has offered for a Mexican criminal, surpassing that of, for example, Nemesio Oseguera - ‘El Mencho’ - leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel ($10 million).
Founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, Caro Quintero is known for being one of the main drug lords in the 1980s, and one of the first to ship drugs on a large scale to the United States.
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The US requests “immediate extradition”
Following the capture of Caro Quintero in Mexico, the United States Attorney General, Merrick Garland, requested this very Friday the “immediate extradition” to the United States of the drug trafficker. Washington took just a few hours to request the transfer of Caro Quintero after the Mexican authorities captured him.
The statement from Garland read as follows:
“There is no hiding place for anyone who kidnaps, tortures, and murders American law enforcement. We are deeply grateful to Mexican authorities for their capture and arrest of Rafael Caro-Quintero. Today’s arrest is the culmination of tireless work by DEA and their Mexican partners to bring Caro-Quintero to justice for his alleged crimes, including the torture and execution of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. We will be seeking his immediate extradition to the United States so he can be tried for these crimes in the very justice system Special Agent Camarena died defending.
“We join in mourning the 14 Mexican servicemembers who gave their lives in service to their country and extend our condolences to the loved ones they left behind.”