Rafael Caro Quintero, the most wanted drug dealer in the United States, was arrested in Mexico

The Mexican Rafael Dear Quinterothe fugitive most wanted by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA, in English) and for whom a reward of $ 20 million for information for his capturewas arrested this Friday in the municipality of Guachochi, in the state of Chihuahua.

The arrest of Caro Quintero, 69, was due to the fact that the authorities allegedly took him over returned to criminal activity on a small scale, as confirmed by official sources.

The drug lord, arrested in an operation by the Secretary of the Navy (Semar), was wanted by the 1985 kidnapping and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarenaperpetrated in February of the same year, and for other crimes related to drug trafficking and organized crime.

Founder of Guadalajara signpostCaro Quintero was one of the main foremen in the 1980s and one of the first in large-scale drug delivery to the United States.

Born on October 3, 1952 in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, cradle of the great Mexican leaders, Quintero, who amassed a great fortune, founded his cartel together with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, aka “Don Neto”. He was also the boss of Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, who worked for him as a hitman during his beginnings in the criminal activity.

The arrest of Caro Quintero comes a few days after the meeting of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with his American counterpart, Joe Biden.

In late November 2019, a Mexican federal judge granted the chief an amparo against extradition to the United States, where he was wanted for the murder of the DEA agent in 1985.

At the beginning of October, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) denied the amaro against the extradition of the drug trafficker, a fugitive since he left prison in 2013 after 28 years of imprisonment due to a judicial sentence that was later revoked.

In April 2018, the United States filed a new criminal case against the chief as responsible for the kidnapping, torture and murder of agent Camarena.

The US authorities offered a $ 20 million reward to anyone who provided information that would allow them to locate and capture Caro Quintero, identified as the head of a criminal enterprise.

Upon his release from prison, authorities presume that he joined the ranks of the Sinaloa cartel and was involved in drug trafficking, which prompted the United States to decide to open a retrial in the New York Eastern District Court. the same one in which “Chapo” Guzmán was tried.

With information from EFE

DB