Monday, June 7, 2010
Mexico moves Rafael Caro Quintero from Prison to City Jail
By Alfredo Méndez and Juan Carlos Partida
● Crimes include 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena
Rafael
Caro Quintero, the notorious drug lord of the 1980s, early [on May 31, 2010] was transferred from the [maximum security] Federal
Social Rehabilitation Center (Cefereso) of Jalisco to the Guadalajara municipal jail, thanks to a federal court ruling, judicial
officials said.
The
transfer of the drug dealer to the municipal jail — which is not suitable to detain dangerous criminals — was
ordered by the First Tribunal on Criminal Matters of the Third Circuit Court, that in deciding on an appeal of a claim held
that federal and state authorities had failed to demonstrate that Caro Quintero is highly dangerous.
The
State of Jalisco Ministry of Public Security reported that Caro Quintero was transferred from the prison after that agency
had exhausted all legal means to prevent the transfer of the accused, and following an appeal to the aforementioned court.
Originally
from the state of Sinaloa, Rafael Caro Quintero is now 57 years old.
The
capo, who headed the former Guadalajara Cartel, is serving 40 years in prison for crimes against health [in Mexico a euphemism
for drug-related crimes] and other crimes, including the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, committed on February 8, 1985.
The U.S. agent's death is what led to the capture of the Mexican drug trafficker on April 4, 1985, in Costa Rica.
The
Fourth District Court of Federal Criminal Processes in Jalisco sentenced Rafael Caro Quintero to 40 years in prison, for various
crimes, in June 2009. After 24 years of process, federal judge Adalberto Maldonado Trenado combined five charges against Caro
Quintero, and while the corresponding sentence total was 199 years in prison he decided to reduce it to 40 years.
In
his ruling, the judge argued that the legislation in force in 1985 applies to this case, thus one could not impose a greater
penalty [insofar as the 40 year sentence was the maximum in effect at the time] according to Article 25 of the Federal Penal
Code.
The
accumulative charges included drug trafficking activities, four murders, depriving 4,000 peasants of their freedom, and the
introduction and carrying of prohibited weapons.
The
main accusation against Caro Quintero is the abduction of Enrique Camarena, an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA), and pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar, on February 7, 1985, and the killing of both the following day, an act that caused
the worst bilateral crisis between Mexico and Washington in the past half century.
He
was also charged with crimes against health and conspiracy, insofar as between 1976 and 1985 he trafficked in marijuana and
cocaine in several states. The Attorney General of the Republic brought another charge against Caro Quintero, because in 1984
he deprived more than 4,000 peasants of liberty, making them work on the El Búfalo ranch in Chihuahua, where the government
seized 6,000 tons [12 million pounds] of marijuana, the largest seizure of that drug in world history.
——————————
"Trasladan a Caro Quintero de un penal de alta seguridad a una cárcel municipal," by Alfredo Méndez and
Juan Carlos Partida, La Jornada, Mexico, D.F., June 1, 2010; edited translation: MexiData.info
