MEXICO CITY, July 25: A veteran Mexican drug lord wanted by the United States for the 1985 murder of a US undercover agent has denied killing the man and insisted that he has left the crime world.
Rafael Caro Quintero, co-founder of the now defunct Guadalajara cartel, said in an interview published yesterday by news magazine Proceso that he has not resumed drug trafficking since his 2013 release from prison, as US authorities allege.
Caro Quintero, 63, said he now wants to “live in peace” and work as a cattle rancher.
He was freed by a judge on a legal technicality after serving 28 years of a 40-year sentence for the torture and murder of the US Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, whose Mexican pilot, Alfredo Zavala, was also killed.
“I’ve never talked about this case, it’s the first time… I did not kidnap, did not torture and did not kill him,” Caro Quintero said from hiding in an undisclosed location in northern Mexico.
“Yes, I was there at the place (of the crime), that’s my participation, nothing more,” he said.
“I apologise to the society of Mexico for the mistakes I made, to the Camarena family, the DEA, the US government. I apologise,” said Caro Quintero, wearing jeans, a blue shirt and a blue baseball hat while sitting in a room with white walls and humble furniture.
The release of the capo nicknamed “The Prince” angered the US authorities, which offered a USD 5 million reward for his capture and are seeking his extradition.
The Mexican government, which also slammed the court, has issued a new arrest warrant. The Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision in 2013, but Caro Quintero had long since vanished.
Camarena’s murder was considered a vendetta by the drug capos of Guadalajara for investigations by the DEA agent that led to the seizure of a massive marijuana field in the northern state of Chihuahua.
The assassination strained US-Mexican relations but the subsequent crackdown on the Guadalajara cartel sent a signal to drug gangs that they would pay a steep price for harming US agents.
Caro Quintero and his partners, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, were all imprisoned over Camarena’s murder.
Their criminal organisation, powerful in the 1980s, is considered the forefather of modern Mexican drug cartels. Its disappearance led to the rise of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. (AGENCIES)
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