Mexico Captures Drug Lord Rafael Caro Quintero, Convicted in Killing of DEA Agent

Author: Editors Desk Source: WSJ:

July 16, 2022 at 08:11

Mexican federal police on patrol in 2013, outside the prison where Rafael Caro Quintero learned of his release. PHOTO: HECTOR GUERRERO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

U.S. to seek his extradition; cartel boss evaded authorities for nearly a decade after a Mexican appeals court freed him

MEXICO CITY—An elite unit of Mexico’s navy captured drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who had been released by a Mexican judge in 2013 after serving 28 years in prison for the killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Mexican officials said Friday.

Mr. Caro Quintero, 69 years old, was convicted of the kidnapping, torture and killing of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the crime that roiled bilateral relations between the U.S. and Mexico. Angered by Mr. Camarena’s disappearance, the U.S. briefly closed down the border with Mexico.

In a surprise move in 2013 that again strained relations between the two countries, a Mexican appeals court ruled Mr. Caro Quintero’s case should have been heard by a state court rather than a federal court, and released him. Mexico’s federal government then issued a warrant for his arrest, which Mr. Caro Quintero evaded for nearly a decade.

That same year, Mexico’s Supreme Court overturned the appeal under which he was freed.

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