In 1985, Rafael Caro Quintero ordered the murder of a US narcotics officer. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his crime, but was released after just 28 years. After many years on the run, one of the most wanted criminals is caught again.
Mexican naval forces have captured the US's most-wanted drug lord, Rafael Caro Quintero. This was confirmed by the Mexican Ministry of the Navy on request, without giving details. According to media reports, Quintero was arrested in the northern Mexican mountains.
Like Pablo Escobar in Colombia, Caro Quintero was considered a "narco de narcos" ("drug lord of drug lords") in the 1980s. In 1985, the co-founder of the early Guadalajara cartel, the first major Mexican drug cartel, ordered the murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. The US anti-narcotics police officer was tortured and drugged for 30 hours before he died. The incident severely strained US-Mexico relations. It took the anti-drug authorities of both countries decades to rebuild mutual trust. The story of the murdered Camarena was later retold in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico.
After the murder of Camarena, Caro Quintero fled to Costa Rica. A little later he was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison in Mexico. In 2013 he was released after 28 years in prison for alleged procedural errors. The Mexican Supreme Court later overturned that decision, but by that time Caro Quintero had already gone into hiding. The US State Department then put a $20 million bounty on his head. Most recently, he is said to have led the smaller Caborca cartel.
The arrest of what used to be Mexico's most powerful drug lord comes a few days after an official visit by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to Washington, where he was received by his US counterpart Joe Biden. It could be interpreted as a goodwill gesture by Mexico towards Washington following tensions over security, investment and migration.
