Enrique Camarena

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Enrique Camarena

Enrique "Kiki" S. Camarena Salazar (born July 26, 1947 in Mexicali , Mexico ; † February 9, 1985 in La Angostura , Mexico) was a Mexican-American agent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who worked during was murdered while exercising his service. His death sparked tension between the US judicial authorities and the Mexican government.

Life

He joined the DEA in 1974. In 1981 he was transferred to Guadalajara , where he served as an undercover agent of the DEA until his murder on February 9, 1985. He had managed to win the trust of the Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero , one of the founders of the Guadalajara cartel. He received information about drug cultivation and trafficking from him. Based on his information, Mexican soldiers stormed the several hundred hectares of ranch El Bufalo in the state of Chihuahua in November 1984 . They seized several thousand tons of marijuana. After the drug lords saw through the DEA agent's cover, Camarena was kidnapped on February 7, 1985 and tortured for 30 hours while drugged to keep him conscious. He was killed on February 9th. His body was found on March 5, 1985. Under enormous political pressure from the US government, Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo were arrested by the Mexican security authorities on April 5, 1985 and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo on April 7, 1985. The DEA launched "Operation Leyenda" on May 3, 1985 on Mexican territory to investigate the murder of its agent itself.

reception

  • In the semi-fictional thriller Days of the Dead by Don Winslow , the affair around Enrique Camarena is a focus.
  • The three-part miniseries The Camarena Plot is based on a story about the last days of Enrique Camarena.
  • Camarena's story is briefly taken up in the Narcos series, about the rise of Pablo Escobar. Since November 16, 2018, the pay-TV provider Netflix has been dedicating a spin-off called Narcos: Mexico , in which Camarena's investigations are told and portrayed in the early 1980s.
  • In 2020, the mini-series The Last Narc was published on Prime Video , which takes up the topic as a documentary .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sandro Benini: A Mexican Capo is released. BaslerZeitung, August 10, 2013, accessed on April 15, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Free again after 28 years: The drug lord who wanted to pay Mexico's debts. Berliner Kurier, August 11, 2013, accessed on April 15, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Watched helplessly. Der Spiegel, April 22, 1985, accessed April 15, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Drug Wars: The Camarena Story. Internet Movie Database , accessed April 15, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Camarena, Enrique
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Camarena, Kiki (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mexican-American agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Mexicali , Mexico
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1985
Place of death La Angostura , Mexico