Several movies, short films and television series have documented the story of Kiki Camarena, right from 'Drug Wars: The Camarena Story' (1990), 'Heroes Under Fire: Righteous Vendetta' (2005), 'Miss Bala' (2011), and the original Netflix drama 'Narcos'. Indirectly, they (the CIA) have got to take some of the blame. He alleged the CIA protected the DFS for decades, and stated, The DFS just got out of hand., Kiki Camarena Death: The Real Story of the DEA Agents Murder, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. It all started with one man. Click here to order :https://tinyurl.com/2p9b958v. The two were in a decomposed state and showed signs of brutalization. Merely days before he was set to be transferred to San Diego, Kiki Camarena was kidnapped while on his way to lunch with his wife. Camarena is pictured left. The Mexican drug lord, whose role in ordering the kidnapping and murder of a US drugs enforcement agent in 1985 was featured in Netflix drama Narcos: Mexico, has been captured. All three series tell the story of Kiki Camarena, a 37-year-old DEA agent assigned to work in Mexico during the 1980s. if(document.querySelector("#adunit")){ Belfast Books Thanks for promoting my bookmate. eventAction: 'click_ads' Rafael Caro Quintero's role in the the 1985 kidnapping and killing of U.S. DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena was a low point in U.S.-Mexico relations. The four-part series, released in July, tells the true story of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, a special agent with the DEA, who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1985.. The DEA Agent's remains were discovered a month later, and investigators later learned that he was brutally tortured for more than 30 hours. 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They blindfolded him and, between questions, beat and burned him. A federal court rejected the request, saying there was no evidence tying the government to the smuggling ring. A special unit was dispatched to coordinate the investigation in Mexico, where government officials were implicatedincluding Manuel Ibarra Herrera, past director of Mexican Federal Judicial Police, andMiguel Aldana Ibarra, the former director of Interpol in Mexico. To get the message across loud and clear, President Ronald Reagan even completely shut down the U.S.-Mexico border, causing an unbelievable backlog of traffic on the Mexican side of the border. At 881 Lope de Vegaa residence owned by Ruben Zuno Arce, a dealer and associate of. How true are the events that unfolded over ten episodes in the first season? Enrique S. "Kiki" Camarena Salazar (July 26, 1947 - February 9, 1985) was a Mexican-born American undercover agent for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who was abducted on February 7, 1985, and then tortured and murdered, while on assignment in Mexico. The highly publicized abduction and murder in 1985 was one of the darkest moments in U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration history and provided the plot for the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico." The designers and the don: How two interior decorators took the fall for the Cali Cartel. He was kidnapped Feb. 7, 1985. 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See : The Loyalist Mod Death of a fella Mod and a Catholic Friend, See: True story behind Netflixs Narcos: Mexico. Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar would never be seen alive again. At the time of Camarenas death, Matta ran a fleet of airplanes that U.S. investigators said supplied Nicaraguan rebels and smuggled drugs. The U.S. is offering a. The cartel buried his body in a Guadalajara park, thenmoved it to a secluded ranch, where his remains were found. People familiar with the case said there are reasons to be skeptical that much will come of the new inquiry. Those claims were wrong, not supported by forensic science. In the 1990s, Mattas lawyers tried to force the government to turn over information about the CIAs alleged involvement. We are one of the worlds fastest growing In the early afternoon hours of February 7, 1985, Camarena was leaving his post based in the U.S. Consulate office in Guadalajara to meet with his wife. Camarena's widow and the mother of his three sons, Mika, told the publication: 'I want the truth to be out. According to the three men, the CIA was collaborating with drug traffickers moving cocaine and marijuana to the United States, and using its share of the profits to financeNicaraguanContrarebels attempting to overthrow NicaraguasSandinistagovernment. As part of their ongoing Drug Awareness program, theBenevolent and Protective Order of Elksawards an annual Enrique Camarena Award at local, state and national levels to a member of law enforcement who carries out anti-drugs work. In March 1985, the DEA recovered the body of Kiki Camarena, 37, who left behind Mika and three children named Enrique, Daniel, and Erik. Set in the 1980s, the plot revolves around how an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Enrique S "Kiki" Camarena Salazar . It would be the last time Camarena was seen alive. The show, in both seasons 1 and 2, traces the growth of the drug trade, moving the series setting from Colombia to Guadalajara, Mexico. Ernesto Don Neto Fonseca and Rafael Caro Quintero were other cartel leaders involved. The DEA assigned the case to a special agent named Hector Berrellez,a highly decorated DEA special agent who plays the central role in The Last Narc. ga('create', 'UA-67136960-15', 'auto', 'ads'); Enrique " Kiki " Camarena Salazar (July 26, 1947 - February 9, 1985) was an American intelligence officer for the United States (DEA). Quintero spent the last 28 years locked up for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of American DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. We also speak in favor of the Red Ribbon campaign and drug awareness. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. According to The Los Angeles Times, Camarenas murder led to the fall of Gallardo and his close associates and the fracturing of their cartel. Moreover, the Enrique S. Camarena Foundation is committed to the prevention of drug use, trafficking, and violence. Godoy said in an interview that he spoke to DEA officials in April 2019 about Camarena's killing. In 1985, Kiki is kidnapped on the streets of Guadalajara by corrupt police officers and brought to a room. Agent Camarena was kidnapped in February 1985, taken to Caro-Quintero's house at 881 Lope de Vega in Guadalajara, and interrogated and tortured for two days. In a shocking twist in season one finale, Felix is free and back under police protection. A school, a library and a street in his home town ofCalexico, California, are named after him. The Netflix series Narcos: Mexico centers around a Mexican drug cartels murder and torture of Kiki Camarena, a federal narcotics agent for the United States. Years later, another Justice Department review found he had repeatedly created scientifically unsupportable lab reports and provided false, misleading, or inaccurate testimony at criminal trials.. However, towards the end of season one, the gang kidnaps, tortures, and mercilessly murders Kiki. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { The cartel enforcers took Camarena to a house on a street called Lope de Vega, where witnesses said they put him on a bed in a guest house at the rear of the property and interrogated him about raids on the cartels supplies and the informants who helped lead agents to the drugs. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. Whether anything comes of the investigation remains uncertain,but the allegations were too alarming to ignore, officials said. Enrique S. Kiki Camarena Salazar(July 26, 1947 February 9, 1985) was a Mexican-born American undercover agent for theUnited StatesDrug Enforcement Administration(DEA) who was abducted on February 7, 1985, and then tortured and murdered, while on assignment inMexico. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ He was about to expose the operation when he was kidnapped on February 7 while he went to have lunch with his wife, Mika. At this point, nothing would surprise me. Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. Slain federal drug agent Enrique Camarena told his killers that agents knew the whereabouts of two of Mexico's most powerful drug lords but did not . They were mostly guys in their early 30s who had joined the DEA with the patriotic aim of winning the war on drugs. It was in 1984 that Camarena got a tip for a 2,500-acre marijuana plantation called Rancho Bfalo, which was destroyed by 450 Mexican soldiers backed by helicopters. window.adsContainer = {"position2":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Above_Next_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position3":{"code":"Article_Mobile_300x250_ATF_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position4":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position5":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle1_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position6":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle2_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position7":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle3_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position8":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle4_Rel","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position9":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle5_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position10":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle6_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position11":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle7_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position12":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle8_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position13":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle9_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position14":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle10_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position15":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle11_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250},"position16":{"code":"Article_Mobile_Middle12_Rel","max_width":320,"max_height":250}} An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story, JFKs Remarkable Peace Speech that Sealed His Fate, Why They Hated Kennedy, and Why They Killed Him, Conservative Mental Dichotomy on the Draft, An Old-Line Conservative Weighs in on the JFK Assassination. In later years, some have argued that Mexican operatives working for the CIA were involved in Kiki Camarenas death, according to El Pais. Widow of U.S. lawyer found dead in Mexico on "strange" incident before his death; . He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. Makes a great Xmas gift for book lovers & those interested in the Troubles & the crazy, mad days my generation lived through. eventAction: 'load' The U.S. government pulled out all the stops to find out who did the kidnapping, torture, and killing of Kiki Camarena, putting unbelievable amount of pressure on the Mexican government to find the people responsible and extradite them to the United States. Malone could not be reached forcomment. The three men's testimonies have been described as 'incredible' by a lawyer working for the recently releasedVerdugo. Also found was the body of his pilot, Zavala Avelar. Camarenas torture and murder prompted a swift reaction from the U.S.Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) and launched Operation Leyenda, the largest DEA homicide investigation ever undertaken. In 1984, acting on information from Camarena, 450 Mexican soldiers backed by helicopters destroyed a 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre)marijuanaplantation inAllende (Chihuahua)with an estimated annual production of $8 billion known as Rancho Bfalo. Ive been reading a lot about Mexican gangs/ cartels recently and their sheer brutality and total disregard for the sanctity of human life has left me sickened and appalled in equal measures. Golden Brown The Stranglers: Iconic Songs & the story behindthem. Kiki received two Sustained Superior Performance Awards, a Special Achievement Award and, posthumously, the Administrators Award of Honor, the highest award granted by DEA, the DEA says. Camarena is the subject of the bookO Plata o Plomo? On the other hand, Kiki's death starts a new revolution in the DEA: a homicide investigation called Operation Leyenda (which translates to Operation Legend). Some of the prosecution efforts began to unravel in 1997 when the credibility of agovernmentwitness, and scientific testimony he introduced, came under scrutiny. The interrogation was directed at finding out what information Camarena had about the cartel. Consisting of four one-hour segments, it will be the most fascinating drug-war documentary you will ever watch. The murder of a Mexican journalist. Lopez said prosecutors showed him old photographs of former U.S. officials. Roberto Savianos non-fiction bookZero Zero Zero(2015) deals in part with Camarenas undercover work and his eventual fate. We need to make justice. An internal Justice Department investigation in 1997 found he had testified falsely before Congress. . But who was Kiki Camarena and how did he enter the Guadalajara drug scene? In the latest installment of the Netflix drug drama, Camarena ( Michael Pena) moves his family to Mexico for a post in the DEA's Guadalajara office in 1981. This individual was the one charged with silencing the anti-narcotics agent for one serious reason: he had discovered that Washington was . Enrique S. "Kiki" Camarena Salazar 1947726198529 . You can watch the whole. . Ruben Zuno Arce, a Mexican citizen convicted for his role in the 1985 torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena died in a U.S. federal prison in Florida. And Im going to be serving my county, serving this community in a different way., Kiki Camarena spent three years in Calexico for the DEA before he was assigned to the agencys Fresno office and then to Mexico, where he worked out of its office in Guadalajara. From 1973 to 1975, Camarena served in the United States Marine Corps. In theNetflixdramaNarcos, Camarenas death and its aftermath are recapped in news footage in the first season episode The Men of Always. The Justice Department declined to answer questions about the case. } Enrique Camarena (July 26, 1947 - February 9, . The opening scene and new credit sequence reveal that Kiki gets abducted by the boss of the Guadalajara cartel, Felix Gallardo (played by Diego Luna). You cant just put it in a drawer and forget about it, said one official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and did so only on condition of anonymity. They dropped the murder case against Matta, although he remains in prison on a drug trafficking charge, and agreed to let Verdugo plead guilty to a reduced charge and be deported to Mexico. I wanted to find out what made the guy tick, and I did a lot of research and thank God I spoke with Mika (Camarenas wife), he told Newsweek. After getting the information, the criminals murdered Agent Camarena and buried him. Despite vigorous protests from the Mexican government, lvarez was brought to trial inLos Angelesin 1992. And revealing as well! Narcos: Mexico shows the growth of the Guadalajara Cartel, pieced together by Felix Gallardo out of warring factions. Some told startling stories, alleging that U.S. officials had secretly been involved with a cartel that was delivering huge quantities of marijuana and cocaine to the USA, according to people familiar with the case who were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, after his death, she formed the Enrique S. Camarena Foundation in 2004 with the help of retired DEA agents and her oldest son, Enrique, a deputy district attorney working in the South Bay. The capture and murder of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena was a brazen moment in the drug war By Will Grant BBC News, Guadalajara Twenty seven years ago, the kidnap, torture and murder of a US Drug. Along with pilot Freddy Zavala, Kiki is interrogated, tortured, and ultimately executed. }); In its spin-off, 'Narcos: Mexico' goes on to show the Guadalajara cartel's ascent as Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo (Diego Luna), Rafael Caro Quintero (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), and Don Neto, aka Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo (Joaqun Cosio), join hands. The Amazon Prime series provides the real backstory of what happened to Camarena and why. Kiki Camarena, the DEA agent that Dr. Delgado is accused of helping torture in Narcos Mexico Season 2. The bottom line: Gallardo went way too far by targeting Camarena. }) Here's a quick comparison between the reel and the real pictures. LOS ANGELES The gunmen were waiting forEnrique Camarena. Do not sell or share my personal information. Traces of drugs were also found in his body. Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena, 37, was abducted, tortured and killed in 1985 while . In the process, youll see why the drug war is so utterly corrupt and why there are people who have a vested interest in seeing that it continues. UK orders only if you live outside the UK email me belfastchildis@googlemail.com and Ill send you a link for ordering outside the UK. World Mexico captures the notorious drug lord behind the kidnapping and murder of a DEA agent Rafael Caro Quintero was convicted in the 1985 death of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena but set. By 1985, which is when Narcos: Mexico roughly starts, he was extremely close to unlocking a multi-billion dollar drug pipeline, the DEA says. He was a police officer, and then he became part of the DEA. Weighing whether to retry the men, federal authorities reinterviewedwitnesses. An undated file photo of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, the DEA agent murdered in Mexico in 1985. },false) DEA agent whose brutal death featured in Narcos was BETRAYED by CIA agent, according to key witnesses in 1985 case. More than three decades after the incident, U.S. authorities are investigating potentially explosive new evidence in the case: allegations that Camarena was betrayed. Camarena was kidnapped and killed during a harrowing time in efforts to stop drugs from pouring across the U.S. southern border. He makes a swashbuckling entry and reclaims his cartel! )Special Agent (ICNTF)Special Agent (DEA). Hes been in custody since 1989, however. The Camarena murder never made any sense to me. Camarena's death was thought to have been ordered by Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, a drug lord known as The Godfather, who controlled trafficking along the US-Mexico border.