The story of ‘Kiki’ Camarena, the DEA agent murdered in Mexico 38 years ago and whose case will be reopened

38 years have passed since the murder of the DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena happened in Mexico. The once powerful Guadalajara Cartel tortured him and ended his life, according to official investigations. Now, 34 years after one of the suspects involved in the crime was convicted in the United States, the case will be reopened.

United States federal judge John A. Kronstadt ordered a new trial against Raul Lopez-Alvarezwho was arrested on October 26, 1987 in Los Angeles and sentenced to 249 years in prison for aiding, abetting, and participating in the kidnapping and murder of Kiki Camarena.

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According to documents obtained by the Mexican newspaper Milenio, the federal judge determined that the FBI presented false evidence that affected the process and decided to annul the four charges that fell on Lopez-Alvarezwho will remain in prison without bail pending a new trial.

According to Millennium, Raul Lopez Alvareza former judicial police officer from Guadalajara, demonstrated that his process was not carried out in accordance with the law.

Specifically, the document says that the sentence was based on evidence that is now known to be defective, which had been presented by an unscrupulous, inaccurate and corrupt FBI agent named Michael Malonethen head of the Hair and Fibers Unit of the Laboratory of that entity.

Raul Lopez Alvarez acknowledged last year that the statements he gave to DEA undercover agent Abel Reynoso and José Reyes García, a witness, were false and the result of a boastful attitude, but that he did not kidnap or kill Camarena.

“On its own, the testimony of Malone that hair was found Camarena in these places did not directly implicate Raul Lopez. However, when viewing the evidence in the context of the entire record, Malone’s testimony significantly supported the inference that López Álvarez’s statements to Reynoso and Reyes García were truthful and undermined Petitioner’s defense that he was bluffing or repeating what who heard or read” the federal judge said in a document dated February 23, 2023.

In addition, in said judicial document, the magistrate argued that Reynoso’s statement “never” explicitly spoke of López-Álvarez kidnapping Camarenabut he was with those who participated in the crime.

The new trial must begin within 180 days of March 23, but, the judge argued, “additional time will probably be needed to locate witnesses and evidence” because the last legal proceedings against the defendant occurred more than 34 years ago. years.

The life and death of Kiki Camarena

Enrique Kiki Camarena Salazar was born on July 26, 1947 in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. When he was 9 years old he moved with his family to calexicoin California, United States, the country where he later became a national.

He enlisted in the United States Navy when he finished high school. She spent two years in that institution.

An image of Kiki Camarena from when she was at the Marian in the United States. (DEA).

He was a firefighter before joining the Calexico Police Department. There his work focused on the drug-related research.

In 1974 he became a special agent for the DEA.

In 1981 he was assigned to work in GuadalajaraMexico to investigate the route of marijuana and cocaine to the United States.

back then Guadalajara was the center of drug trafficking in Mexico.

The Mexican cartels had allied with Colombian mafias to traffic cocaine, something that made astronomical profits for the mafias.

“Came to Guadalajara an investment boom even through large businessmen who began to launder a lot of money, especially in real estate construction, car dealerships, shops, banks ”, Felipe Cobián Rosales told BBC Mundo in 2013.

BBC Mundo reports that in Mexico Kiki Camarena managed to get close to some heads of the Guadalajara cartel, especially Rafael Caro Quintero, El Narco de Narcos; and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, alias Don Neto.

It is not clear if they knew it was an undercover DEA agent. says BBC World.

In 1981 Kiki Camarena was assigned to work in Mexico. (DEA).

In November 1984, thanks to reports from Kiki Camarena and a pilot from the extinct Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources and retired ex-military, named Alfredo Zavala Avelar, The Mexican government ordered an anti-drug operation in the municipality of Allende, Chihuahua, where the ranch was seized on Buffaloowned by Caro Quintero.

They destroyed themselves more than 8,500 tons of marijuana worth 8,000 million dollars at the time. It was a big blow for the Guadalajara Cartel. Mafia he planned his revenge against the DEA.

In February 1985, as he was leaving the US consulate in Guadalajara to have lunch with his wife, Camarena was kidnapped by five men they put him in a car. The mafia also kidnapped the pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar.

Both were subjected to torture and interrogations, which were recorded on audio tapes.

Camarena was kidnapped in a property belonging to Caro Quintero, located in the Jardines del Bosque neighborhood, in Guadalajara, where he was tortured for more than 30 hours. His executioners broke several bones, knocked out several teeth, burned him, and inserted a stick into his rectum.

He February 9 both were killed. The cause of death of Kiki Camarena it was a head injury, due to receiving a direct blow to the head.

In this March 8, 1985 photo, United States Marines carry the body of slain DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar upon arrival at the North Island Naval Air Base in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi, File)

March 5, 1985The authorities they found the body of Camarena and Zavala with obvious signs of torture in a rural area of the narrownessin the municipality of Vista Hermosa, in Michoacán.

For the crime of Kiki Camarena They were arrested Ezequiel Godinez Cervantes and Javier Vazquez Velasco; the ex-policemen Francisco Tejeda Jaramillo and Raul Lopez Alvarez; Rubén Zuno Arce, brother-in-law of former President Luis Echeverría; José Manuel López Radón, Juan Rulfo Solorio, Víctor López Malo, Raúl López Álvarez and Gerardo Lepe; and drug traffickers Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, among others.

Source: Elcomercio