U.S. DRUG TRAFFICKING LAW DRAWS PROTEST NOTE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 25, 2013
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: October 30, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
VI. 31 Oct 86
(0:S?DRUG?TRAFFJCKING?IAW?DRAWS?PROTEST?NOTE
)
FL301452 Mexico City NOTIMEX in Spanish 0340 GMT 30 Oct 86
Ml
[Text] Mexico City, 29 Oct, (NOTIMEX) -- The Foreign Secretariat has announced that the
, Mexican Government today formally protested to the U.S. State Department for using
pressure tactics against Mexico based on inexact statements, in the sense that Mexico
does not observe its cooperation commitments in the struggle against drug trafficking.
In the document presented by the Mexican ambassador to Washington, the Mexican
Government insists that one should not lose sight of the fact that actions aimed at
Combating the complex drug trafficking problem in Mexico are Mexico's responsibility.
In the protest, Mexico expresses its bewilderment at the inclusion of provisions that
affect Mexican interests in the narcotics control law signed by the U.S. Congress on 18
October and signed yesterday by President Ronald Reagan.
The Mexican Embassy, the note says, considers referent provisions evidence of an
unfriendly attitude which explicably ignores reality.
The note adds that the Mexican Government has repeatedly and promptly informed U.S.
congressmen and officials about diverse actions taken in Mexico, which are included in
the referent law as if they had emanated from the country's congress.
Information on the investigation and criminal processes against those responsible for
the deaths of DEA agent Enrique Camarena and the pilot Zavala and alleged abuses of
authority against Victor Cortes has been made public, the note continues.
The [U.S.] Congress' attitude in the referent law is surprising since it chooses to
ignore differences between the U.S. and Mexican judicial systems, each derived from
different judicial traditions, which have been explained by Mexican officials to U.S.
officials, the communique says.
The note adds that Mexico has repeatedly demonstrated in international forums that it
efficiently utilizes all available resources to combat drug trafficking and the
violence that this illegal activity generates, not only on the border, but throughout
the national territory.
It is a source of concern to note, the document says, that while Mexico has promoted
bilateral dialogue with the United States and multilateral dialogue with area countries
in the search for solutions to the drug trafficking problem, the referent law contains
threats in that it warns U.S. tourists about traveling to Mexico, denies favorable tax
treatment to Mexican export products, restricts future appointments of the
stabilization fund, and hints possible abstention from voting in favor of Mexican
credit requests from multilateral development banks.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
FLA4
VI. 31 Oct 86 CUBA Q 1
RIJG--IS-BOR-DE-R-LM-1-L-ITAR-IZATION' _77
PA301638 Havana International Service in Spanish 2300 GMT 29 Oct 86
[Report by correspondent Francisco Ramirez from Mexico city]
[Text] The new U.S. antinarcotics law approved by President ROnald Reagan will bring
about an accelerated militarization of the border with Mexiad and make More acute the
already serious bilateral problems, observers in the Mexican capital have predicted.
The antidrug legislation issued. by the U.S. Government will transform the 3,000-km
border with Mexico into a vast center of strict air and electronic surveillance with
the pretext of stopping drug traffic across the border.
With a budget of $1.7 billion for that purpose, the U.S... Government will send to the
Mexican border modern radar equipment, special aircraft to pursue and capture planes
suspected of transporting narcotics, helicopters, and a beefed-up group of antidrug
agents. The Reagan administration claims that large volumes of marijuana, heroin, and
cocaine enter the United States from Mexico. Therefore, an important part of the
efforts in the new law will be geared toward stopping that illegal traffic.
The new law has been described by skeptics as a Mere offshoot of the antidrug frenzy
that characterizes this election year. However, its passage reflects a concern over
the growing use of drugs in U.S. society.
The hostility toward Mexico is clearly manifested in a document entitled: The
Sentiment of the Congress, included in the new antinarcotics law. In this document,
senators state that Mexico has fallen short of its responsibilities in the struggle
against drug traffic, and propose economic sanctions against that country. However,
the Mexican authorities believe differently. They have Said that the United States is
the principal market for drugs not only from Mexico, but from, other nations -- and
that this kind of activity cannot be eradicated simply through policing Measures that
are generally unilateral and affect Mexican interests,
HAVANA RADIO VIEWS UN SOUTH ATLANTIC RESOLUTION
PA301255 Havana International Service in Spanish 2300 GMT 24 Oct 86
["Our America" commentary read by Manolo Ortega]
[Text] With an overwhelming majority -- 124 votes in favor and 1 against the UN
General Assembly has approved an important resolution, which, if scrupulously
respected, will substantially contribute to the maintenance of peace in the. South
Atlantic Ocean. In declaring the waterway between Africa and South America a peace
zone, the leading international organization was very clearly stating mankind's desire
to check the arms race and gradually eliminate the areas of tension in the world.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
VI. 7 Nov 86 41-E1X_I_C_O M 1
PRESIDENT DEFENDS 'CLEAN' ELECTORAL PROCESSES
PA061331 Mexico City Red Nacional 13 Imevision Television in Spanish 0300 GMT 6 Nov 86
[Report by Humberto Mares Navarro from Tepic, Nayarit -- passages within quotation
,marks recording of President Miguel de la Madrid]
[Text] President Miguel de la Madrid said in Nayarit that electoral processes in
Mexico are normal, clean, and reflect popular will despite unfounded slanders and
criticism at home and abroad. He acknowledged that there are a few imperfections in
electoral processes, and to correct them, he proposed a new federal electoral code:
"With these proposals, we wish to achieve several objectives: First, to ensure the
efficiency of the Mexican political system, which is why we continue to support the
principle that the majority must rule in a democracy with the respect and participation
of minorities. However, we maintain the fundamental trademark of our democratic system
and try to prevent excessive elimination [pulverizacion] of parties, which would only
provoke instability and inefficiency ?in our government."
The president of the republic added that imperfections and irregularities are natural
occurrences in a country with 80 million inhabitants and 30 million voters with
cultural and social differences: "We have mechanisms, which we want to improve, to
ensure that these few imperfections will be corrected to create an increasingly clean
and less questionable electoral system; we want to strengthen the mechanisms in the
face of slanders regarding the Mexican political system. That unfounded criticism --
which is based on wrong tactics -- sometimes thrives internally, but at times it also
'comes from abroad with suspicious frequency to discredit the republic's institutions
and basically to weaken the Mexican people's sovereignty and to subject it to the
dictates of foreign hegemonical powers."
During his speech, President Miguel de la Madrid said that the government of the
republic has supported and respected all national political inclinations, because we
live in an integral democracy. He said that Mexicans cherish our political, economic,
and social independence and do not accept foreign political systems. He said that in
Mexico, the freedom to criticize and voice opinions and views is complete: "There is
neither repression nor control of the press, television, or radio in Mexico. All
opinions are vented; sometimes there is bitter criticism that perhaps lacks objectivity
at times. However, we Mexicans will always prefer to run the risk of abusing the
freedom of speech rather than having systems to control expression, opinion, and
criticism."
During this work tour, President de la Madrid inaugurated social projects totalling 3.7
billion pesos and handed land titles to 17,000 peasants.
4TAVY-Sti-tftARIAT_REPORTS ANTI-DgUG-ACTIVITHS--7
FL061731 Mexico City NOTIMEX in Spanish 0355 GMT 6 Nov 86
[Text] Mexico City, 5 Nov, (NOTIMEX) -- The Navy Secretariat has reported that over
2,000 members of the Mexican Armed Forces are involved in the Mexican Caribbean area
alone in anti-drug smuggling activities. They are located in the naval zones of Ciudad
del Carmen, Campeche; Yucaltepen, Yucatan; in the areas Champoton, Lerma, and Progreso
in Yucatan; and on Isla Mujeres and Cozumel in Quintana Roo.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
VI. 10 Nov 86
M 2 MERIW
It is an essential and unpostponable task to improve bilateral relations significantly
because we are nations that will always have to coexist with each other; it is
preferable to do so and to avoid the need for unjustified pressure from the most
powerful country in the world toward a neighbor that only wants respect for and
understanding of its struggle to upgrade living conditions for its people and its
political system.
DEA-SHOULD 'OBSERVE,' NOT-EXCEED-AU_HORTIV
PA091330 Mexico City EL UNIVERSAL in Spanish 7 Nov 86 pp 21, 24
[By Manuel Ponce]
[Text] The Mexican Senate's Foreign Affairs Commission stated that the foreign drug
enforcement agents misinterpret'and distort their duties in our country.
Likewise, the commission announced that in an attempt to prevent future bilateral
problems, as in the case of DEA agent Victor Cortez, the agents will be assigned a
status, and specific sanctions will be established for those who exceed their authority.
The commission also stated that the struggle against drug trafficking in our country is
the exclusive duty of Mexicans, and clarified that the presence of these people [drug
enforcement agents] in our territory, some of whom have diplomatic status, is to
observe and to receive or provide information that could be useful in the struggle
against this problem.
During a news conference -- in which the attitude of some North American sectors that
have tried to ignore the efforts put forth by the Mexican authorities in their struggle
against drug trafficking was criticized -- Senator Celso Humberto Delgado Ramirez
stressed that the United States is not doing its best to fight the use of drugs. ?The
senator stressed that the United States is not acting in accord with international
feelings.
The senator went on to say that we have even met with open opposition in some cases.
In this regard, he said that, while the international community condemns this crime "as
a crime against humankind," there are some regions in the neighboring northern country
where there is a strong movement to legalize the production, possession, and
consumption of drugs.
Regarding the presence of foreign agents in the struggle against drugs in our country,
the senator said that in an attempt to prevent future problems like the one caused by
the arrest of DEA agent Victor Cortez, the Senate is drafting a treaty that will
include guidelines establishing the status and duties of these officials.
In doing so, the senator added, we seek to establish some type of punishment for any of
these persons who may exceed their authority.
Delgado Ramirez stated that he is aware of the requests, claims, and charges presented
by civic organizations, political parties, and businessmen in the northern area of the
country. They are asking for implementation of "procrastinating" measures [medidas de
"tortuguismo"] similar to those practiced by the North American authorities along the
border with the excuse of struggling against drug trafficking.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25 : CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
uicuu UALUN
ON Pow 19 November 1986
CIA zeros in on
IN/lexica corrupti kon
W ire taps called coidirmatioR9fd cgiv;
t
. ,
of dishonesty in policeoclectedoffi his
By Joh Stantiefer ?
and J. Stryker Meyer
Stoll Writurfi
The CIA has been conducting a
wiretap operation in Mexico that has
corroborated allegations of corrup-
tion among Law enforcement and po-
litical officials in that country, The
San Diego (In10 has learned.
The CIA's cooperation in drug ktt.-
vesti,gations is a recent departure
from its traditional role of intelli-
gence-gathering, sources say, and re-
sulted from pressures generated by
the kidnap-torture slaying of Drug
Enforcement Administration agent
Enrique Camarena Salazar last year
in Guadalajara.
Policy differences recently sur-
faced between the CIA. which begau,.
passing information relating to drug-
related corruption to the DEA, and
Department of Justice lawyers,who
are planning future prosecutions.
The CIA passed along the inerimi-
niting conversations for "intelli-
gence purposes only," said one
sciirce, while the Justice Department
wants to use the wiretapped epnver-
sations as evidence in any coin
als that arise from the current it)
tiga tions. ?
P
The wiretap operatiojt44 done.
without the knowledge of (theiMelit..
can government, tbc, sources said, be-
cause of, fear that the operation
webid be:endangered.
U.S. Attorney Peter K. Nunez was
-t?
. .
called teditishington, D.6Thsi Wi-ek ?
to discuss the!Ceft, the sO 'Ces Said.'
Nunlz wbuld",:iiiit comment on hisitt
trip, but oilietiourc !'4:0 sitr
agency is no loger p lFef Ing infof-w
Illation to the DEA. !
The extent of the'*etap opera-
tion could not be ,tolifitlited.:Al
though one sourCejti the intelligence
community said It involved taps on'
the felephona.of teveral high gov-
ernment official, thc in.:
formatiop :pal* to the' .1): k came
trod a tap oriitili Mexico City left!
phone of a e.g. citizen in conta0t
with numerousfolice officials, statec'
officials and ditg;traffickers.
"If the CIA'S tieing more, they're
not telling DEA;" said a Justice De--
partment offiejal who would not
speak for attrl4tion.
A spokesman for the CIA yester-
day had no continent.
74e .wiretap pf,the American citi:
zen raises a letalquestion.
For wiretap -evidence gathered in
a foreign juristiiption to b used in a
U,S. court,. 'a;'.ilisti6 ? parimOnt
se said, the wiretap generally
mus be in aocprdance with that
fouOry's law wavot*lource
addeitl, in th ase of Mexico ?
where vast n bars of gevernment
off edit? be In league
era "? to apply for
a legal wireta6Might be tantamount
go aiprkinglheaspects.
Ozostintied
fl,,-Inecifiarl in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25 : CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25 : CIA-RDP
The source said there was no dis-
pute between the CIA and Justice
Departmenl but merely discussion
about how far the CIA would be will-
ing to go publicly. including poasable
disclosure of methods of operatima.
to authecticate the wiretaps. The
Justice Department needs to know
that information before any prosecu.
Lion is undertaken. the source said.
Another source said the
Upped conversations gathered in
Mexico are notable for their candor.
"There's no pretense, no subtlety:
said the source. They just say,
'Bring 20 kilos of s--- (heroin} here by
tomorrow or illtrave your b--s cut
off.* No cute talk lilac in the U.S..
where people might say, 'Row many
oranges do you want?'"
The cooperation of the CIA in a
drug investigation has been a rarity
until recently.
Many DEA field agents and super-
visors who have worked in foreign
countries relate stories about past
cases where a drug trafficker has
been targeted. only to have the CIA
intervene and discourage the investi-
gation on grounds that the trafficker
was working for the spy agency.
That was possible because late en-
forcement agencies working in a for-
eign country must report the names
of their foreign informants to the
CIA -station chief at the country's
U.S. embassy.
This Massive investigative effort
was undertaken after the kidnapping
and torture-slaying of DEA agent
Camareaa. who was seized no a Gua-
dalajara street on Feb. 7. 1985.
"Operation Leyencia" is the name
of the year-and-a-half irivetgation
into the Camarena murder. "Leyee-
da" is Spanish slang for lawman:* a
nickname by which the gung-ho
Camarena was known to his col-
leagues The investigatiun ir.ciuded
presenting evidence before a federal
grand jury in Washington. D.C. last
year.. The probe recently shifted to a
federal grand jury in San Diego and
is headed by two special prosecutors
from Department of Justice head-
quarters.
Sources say U.S. investigators in
NleSic? reached and otherwise level-
taped so many contacts that they did
not keep the CIA fully informed of
their activities.
After tugh-level discuss:ohs, the
sources say, the DEA agreed to make
the CIA aware of their informants
and the spy agency, in turn, agreed to
provide to the DEA information it
. developed pertaining to the Ca mare-
ca killing or to drug-related corrup-
tion in Mexico.
The interagency cooperation
comes nearly five years after Presi-
dent Reagan signed Executive Order
12333 on Dec. 4. 1981. authorizieg the
CIA to "collect produce and dissemi-
nate intelligence on foreign aspects
of narcotics productioe and traffick-
ing:
But the order ir.cludes clear
no what the CIA can do when
its surveillance involves a U.S. citi-
zen HI a foreign country.
It requires the CIA to use "the
least intrusive collection teehniques
feasible" and erarea.sly prahibits the
use of such tedinique as -electronic
surveillance. urconsemed physical
search or monitoring devices unless
they are ... approved ?by the attorney
general.'
The order states that such approv-
al is not In be granted "unless the
attorney general has determined in
each case that there is probable
cause to believe the (surveillance;
technique is directed a.,43iast a for-
eign power or an agent of a foreign
power:. ?
A Justice Department spokesman
yesterday refused comment on this.
CIA spokesman George Lauder
yesterday said the agency has.. a
standing policy against discussieg IL3
operations and. therefore, would not
comment publicly on the ? wiretap
a Ilegaticer.
But a senior intelligence official
said the LIS. intelligence cornmucity,
including the CIA. collects informa-
tion on narcotics and passes it on to
other govertirreent branches, includ-
ing the DEA.
The official, who spoke on the con-
dition that be riot be identified. said:
"Narcotics in Mexico is not (the
CIA's) cupcake. Other organs of the
United States government are deeply
enmeshed in it."
The State Department .and DEA
lead the U.S. anti-drug effort in Mex-
ico, including the gathering of nar
cctics-related intelligence, the offi-
cial said. adding that the CIA's role is
to provide carcotics information that
otter agt-neles cannot get_
98-01394R000200030039-3
The cfficial deiiiinc.1 to say
v.tethcr that I1C:es
from wirciaps, elottr,:ric interccpt.s
or other fortns of survulljance.
acirrazistrati-..:c famili2r
with US :ctelligence activities la
Mexico sale yesterday, "You bet ...
ahe MAI collects information on
narcotis (there and in other nations;
It's one of the age-vs primties
The adir.inistrat:on official afzo de-
clined to be ide.nufle?
White House spokesinan Don
\Lathe; said he is atsillutoly certain
there is an exchange of drug-related
information between the Slate De-
partmer.t, the National Security
Council and the DE.0 But he had r.o
comment on any CL % role.
DEA Administrator Jchn Lawn
was in Palermo. Sicily. yesterday
and could not be reached for com-
ment. DEA Public Affairs spokes-
man William Alden said the agency
would r.make no corm-tient.
Contributing to this story were
Copley News Service WiLshiiigton
correspondents Benjamin Shore and
Marcus Stern.
neclassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
STA! Id.,
?
4WHINGION TIMES
DATE &C) t1/411:1\1_
PAGE 34
ry on Mexico wiretaps
om ts denial by CIA
B ;Michael?Hedges
4SH4GTON TIMES
:.?? A report in a San Diego newspa-
per that the CIA tapped the phones
1. of Mexican police and, goVernment
officials to gain information in the
'! slaying of a U.S. drug enforcement
agent has provoked an unusual of-
ficial denial from the CIA.
, "The CIA :doesn't normally com
Ment on stories alleging CIA activi-
ties.We are ? making an exception
because the San Diego Union story
is untrue, and misleads the 'Airier-
ican people," the CIA said in a
'statement late yesterday.
The story published yesterday
quoted unidentified "intelligence
. ' ?
res
sources" as saying taps were placed
on the phones of high-ranking Mexi-
can officials and that the informa-
tion gained confirmed charges of
corruption among Mexican officials.
The newspaper said the operation
was conducted without the know-
ledge of the Mexican government
because of fears that would endan-
ger the probe into the kidnapping
and torture-murder of Drug En-
forcement Administration agent En-
rique Camarena Salazar, whose
body was found in March 1985 out-
side Guadalajara, Mexico.
"The suggestion that the CIA has
been targeting Mexican officials in
connection with narcotic trafficking
is falser the CIA statement said.
State Department officials also
denied the report, saying, "Any sug-
gestion that we are targeting Mexi-
can officials is untrue."
The Mexican Embassy in Wash-
ington said it was considering a
response, but had not released a
statement at press time yesterday.
The office of Karin Winner,
managing editor of The San Diego
Union, was contacted yesterday, but
she did not return calls by early eve-
ning.
President Reagan signed an ex-
ecutive order five years ago autho-
rizing the CIA to "collect, produce
and disseminate intelligence on for-
eign aspects of narcotics production
and trafficking."
It requires the CIA to use "the
least intrusive collection techniques
feasible" and prohibits the use of
"electronic surveillance, unconsent-
ed physical search or monitoring de-
vices unless they are.. . approved by
the attorney general."
? Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
3T Declassified in Part - Sanitized COPY proved forRelease 2013/07/25 : CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Street Journal
Date V. /qt.&
2. Page
Southern Exposure
I:low, the Mexican Trail
rn Drug Agent's Death
YielcLs Cache of 'Crack'
A'ocused Trafficker Is Caught
After Kidnap of Girl, 17,
But Big Dealers Escape
Lure of the U.S. Market
By 'JOHN J. FIALkA
,ciff Reporter of THE WALL. STREET JOURNAL
.mgxico CITY--Amic1,-one of the larg-
est manhunts in Mexidailiistory, the beau-
:114111.7-year-old daughter of one?of Guada-
,.:lajara's most socially and politically prom-
'tent families was abducted by 15 rifle-tot-
ins thugs in two new American cars.
'The abduction was a clue, almost as
.5".ii1itinct1Ve as a fingerprint,/ leading U.S.
4,04 Mexican Investigators to the Main tar-
?,?:.g.f4t)f 'their manhunt: ; Rafael Caro ? Quin- .
4.arp; 32 'year* Old, who authorities Say is 41.,
'jfember a Multibilliondollar,confedera-
Aton-,Of drug dealers that directed ' the tor-'
--tpr.e and murder Of Enrique Camarena Sa-
Iatar",: a,U.S. Drug Enforcement Adminis-
tration ? agent, early last year. Mr. Caro
- Quintero also is charged with operating a
tite marijuana production and distribu-
Aiiisiness.
connection between Mr. Caro Quin-
rItero and the young woman, Sara Cristina
COsio Martinez, was .
sim-
ple:comparatively He was in love,
so he arranged to
her kidnapped.'
? and flown to ,his
mansion hide-out in?
Rica, where
. he , was later.. ar-
? rested. A more difficult question?one that
:-',-still.puzzles Mexican and U.S. authorities
Investigating --. the sprawling, convoluted
'anatomy of the Camarena case?is the co-
caine connection. ?
;At the time of Mr. Camarena's torture
and:death in February '1985, DEA agents
,
nere and in Washington were absorbed in a
.f.....majorsuper-secret investigation called
;:,Opq.AtiOni-Padrino, aimed at breaking up
Shuttle service that was taking
10-,sized loads of cocaine from South
' America through Mexico Into Arizona.
DEA investigators theoriz.ed that stis-..
top Ne],cicanArtl.dcaPM sucb as
;1144.4.0044444-,*1. : teds
ihi _tivigu4;14-
`etto eta an aiterrii epibdife:
They wanted something that could be
smoked like marijuana but that didn't re-
4t114.1re:;tP, ._e?vast farming and shipping opera-
. *.etitk the constant police bribery
'PP.S,e; the hethe-gt9wP1 qlert-
24 ?
;",Thel Superior
rtdCi1sibl:its new, crystalline' lOrtiv; piled
'crack, could' be smoked. Because it was
'imported, one didn't need to hire, guard
and maintain armies of Mexican peasants
ko grow it. Because it was much less bulky,
'it' could be shipped by air, reducing the
large numbers of federal, state and local
pOlice that had to be bribed to make the
Marijuana fields, warehoisses and trucks
The coc.a.ixte Shuttle
The.tocalne-shuttle plan, DEA Investi-
gators
say, was hatched with the conniv-
ance of some well-connected and well-paid
law-enforcement officials in the adminis-
tration of former President Jose Lopez
Portillo, who left office in 1982.
The police bribery was otherwise con-
-fined to the area of Vera Cruz, where a
:fleet of the Gulfstream Commander 1000s,
'Abe drug smugglers' favorite aircraft,
,.touched down at the midpoint of shuttle
,flights from Colombia and Peru to dry lake
.beds in ,Arizona.
A.: Because it was controlled and capital-
7.1zed by members of the same gang that
- had used corporate-like accounting and
:management practices to build Mexican
'marijuana into an efficient, multibillion-
:dollar business in the early 1980s, nearly
everything about the cocaine shuttle was
:lirst class.
turboprop engines of the Gulf-
'streams, for example, allowed the deliver-
.les.to be made at almost jet speed, yet the
?planes could land and take off on short des-
-.lea airstrips. At Vera Cruz there was a
paved airfield, as well as special hangars
.Where the planes were guarded by agents
Mexico's Federal Security Directorate,
r-DFS, an agency similar to the U.S. Cen-
4ral Intelligence Agency and run by Mex-
O's Ministry of the Interior.
..)..pross: $30 Million a Month
A DEA investigator estimates in an in-
1:lerview that the cocaine sellers were pull-
ng in a gross of $30 million a month by
,984, when the agency began to penetrate
(The Mexican DFS, which was also
luaviaria trade, has since been reorganized af-
ly involved in "protecting" the mad-
?
iter over 400 agents were fired following the
1,4-C.A.Inarena inquiries.)
..Ey Feb. y, 1985, the day Mr. Camarena
!as kidnapped in front of the U.S. consul-
Guadalajara, where he worked,
t)g.4 agents had seized 3,000 pounds of co-
frozen $55 million in bank ac-
otintl'and had broken the cryptic radio
ode.:that guided the Gulfstreams down to
eir Secret rendezvous in the Arizona des-
We were getting fairly close to.some
ttiod arrests," says one DEA official, who
'lie* that Mr. Camarena was tortured
drug dealers desperate to krthw who the
orMants. were in Operation Padrino.
Strong reaction of the U.S. and
0governments to the disappear-
Of Mr. Camarena was like a rock be-
, tossed into a small pool. Drug dealers
-,c4da1ajara,which had become home
for Mr. Caro Quintero and other rich mari-
juana traders, scattered In all directions as
? the Manhunt grew.
One clue that appears to link the kid-
? nap-killing to cocaine traffic is a picture of
Mr. Camarena that was found in the hast-
? ily. abandoned Guadalajara home of Mi-
guel Angel Felix Gallardo, who DEA of fi-
cial.Vbelleve was the connection between
the marijuana trade and the growing traf-
fic in, cocaine.
Mr. Felix Gallardo is also regarded by
? the iEA as the chief strategist and money
launderer of the Guadalajara drug dealers.
Like.mOst of them, he had also worked for
the late Pedro Avilez Perez, a legendary
drug dealer who took over the marijuana
trade ,in the state of Sinaloa in the late
1970s? and who was killed in a police am-
? bash in 1979.
? Most of Mr. Avilez's gang members
fornied their own gangs and continued in
the Same tradition. But Mr. Felix Gallardo
. is different, a DEA Investigator says. "He
Is at,' home in a business suit, travels to Eu-
rope. He understands international bank-
' ing; So he knows how to hide money. He is
also', subtle. You didn't see him buying
huge homes or fleets of flashy cars."
AtE. Felix Canard() was so subtle, in
fact-,? that he was able to disappear despite
?-, world-wide efforts of Mexico and the U.S.
' to arrest him for his alleged involvement
In thk Camarena killing.
4.1 for other members of his "confeder-
- ti
atio, N, their old habits led to their down-
fallaor Mr:.Caro Quintero, for example,
it v4s his love for the young Miss Cosio,
whciIS related to a leader of Mexico's rul-
inAistitutional Revolutionary Party. She
haT;spurned Mr. Cam . Quintero's ad-
? v s,. even after he had given her a Fer-
ai
? ra .pci a Cadillac and serenaded her. He
hactven kidnapped her once before, a
messy affair that Miss Cosio told police in-
. temogators was settled only after he pre-
sent d a commander of the Mexican Fed-
eratiu,dicial Police with a gift of $21,000.
. .
Su Vying.. the Gunmen
'this time; Mr. Caro Quintero had Miss
Cola4lown to his Costa Rica hide=out,
wh4;?according to her later statement to
pOlr,cy'she. Saw him and his rifle-toting
guards acting strangely. For example,
Mr: Caro Quintero kept his gun-
me :Supplied from 'a one-pound plastic bag
of 99ainejied to his belt.
" ? ..' " .
then Mexico was awash in cocaine.
. Accding ta'the.office of Mexico's attor-
neherieral, cocaine seizures by police had
jurt4d. from ?13 pounds in '1982 to almost
thrkt-tOns in 1985. ? (In this year's first
se*t.' months, Mexican Cocaine seizures
..
jurn.p.ed? to five tons.) .
r. Caro Quintero, told police during his
int .gation that he didn't deal in cocaine
bu that:he had become .addicted to it. He
ha also become addicted to the whims of
Mi '7Cosio. He let her go shopping in Costa
RI and chat on the phone with her
fri4nds.in .Guadalajara and even with her
m .,er,. The calls werespiciced:siRby".a,po.:...
lic wiretap:Jr!' the cola ciawn'AApril:.f: .
19 ?two'.months after 'Me Cato?QUintero..
fl ...;;Guadalajara in his 'luxury. jet, his
he vily armed gunmen looked out to see
an ;even more heavily armed Costa Rican
police SWAT team taking positions around
th Mansion. The fugitive surrendered, and
h. hostage was freed.
.., priest? Fonseca Carillo, 57, allegedly
an9ther major member of the Guadalajara
drye federation, was apprehended soon
thereafter. An inordinate desire for protec-
tloi became his downfall. He had taken 18
po icemen with him as bodyguards when
he ad fled to his villa hideaway in the Pa-
cifIc resort of Puerto Vallarta. Then four
mlre pfficers, members of the corrupt
1)p:classified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
DFS, knocked on his door seeking a place
for the night.
Arrival of the Army
On April 9, 1985, one of the visiting po-
licemen wandered downtown to a bar and
became involved in a drunken brawl with
some of the locals. He ran back to Mr.
Fonseca's villa for reinforcement, hastily
pursued by local police. A firefight ensued,
? ending when the Mexican army arrived.
The soldiers arrested 24 people, including
Mr. Fonseca and 22 current or retired po-
licemen living with him in the villa.
For Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros, it
was the Colombian connection that tripped
ihim up, but only temporarily. Mr. Matta
Ballesteros, a Honduran alleged to be Mr.
Gallardo's source for cocaine from South
America, was tracked by the DEA to a
Mexico City apartment.
At that point, according to DEA investi-
gators, the director of the Mexican Federal
Judicial Police, Manuel lbarra Herrera, in-
tervened, refusing to allow the apartment
to be searched for three days. (Mr. lbarra
was later removed from his job in what
Mexican authorities describe as a govern-
mentwide budget reduction.)
Meanwhile, Mr. Matta Ballesteros fled
_ to. Colombia, where the DEA found him
again and had him arrested. Somehow, he
escaped from jail there and fled to Hondu-
ras, where he was arrested on an unre-
lated Criminal charge. Despite strenuous
U.S. efforts to extradite him, the Honduran
charges against Mr. Matta Ballesteros
were recently dropped, and he was
freed.
:Walking Out of Jails
DEA 'records show .Mr. Matta Balles-
teros to be an expert at walking out of
jails. A convicted criminal, he should still
be serving time here in a Mexico City
prison, investigators say. In the early
1980s, however, he found himself in the
same cellblock with Alberto Sicilia Falcon,
the former head of a multimillion-dollar
cocaine and marijuana trafficking network
broken by DEA agents and the Mexican
_Federal Judicial Police after a five-year
Investigation in the late 1970s.
' After learning Mr. Sicilia Falcon's co-
caine sources, the enterprising Mr. Matta
Ballesteros allegedly managed to gain an
early , release by- impersonating his
brother-in-law, who was then serving time
in the same prison on a lesser charge.
DEA investigators believe he went straight
.to' Mr.. Felix Gallardo..
Mr., Felix Gallardo, using money and
the organizational skills .the Guadalajara
confederation, had used in the marijuana
trade, is then believed to have reconnected
the Sicilia Falcon cocaine network, using
Mr. Matta Ballesteros as his contact with
South American producers.
A fifth member of the Guadalajara drug
confederation, Juan Jose Esparragoza
Moreno, allegedly a major trafficker in co-
caine and marijuana, was arrested by
Mexican Federal Judicial Police in March
at his home in a rich suburb here.
A sixth memberi?Mantt-,Sa4cidp.
aliasl.?'CritY,
DEA officials Say they think' Mr. Saucido is
hiding behind a considerable army of gun-
men on a'marijuana ranch in-the Sonoran
desert. "He is locatable but unarrestable."
says one investigator.
Nearly all of the captured defendants in
the case, including Messrs. Caro Quintero
and Fonseca, have repudiated earlier con-
fessions, charging that they were extracted
by police torture. Lawyers representing
the major suspects recently published an
open letter here to 411e president of Mex-
ico's Supreme Court charging that the case
is flawed by 'serious irregularities and ab-
normalities" by judges and police.
Efrain Garcia Ramirez, a lawyer for
Mr. Caro Quintero and Mr. Fonseca, as-
serts that the charges against them are a
frame-up. "They were scapegoats of pres-
sure exerted by the United States that had
to be solved immediately."
Continuing Investigation
Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Mexico's attor-
ney general (who isn't related to the law-
yer), declines to comment on the Ca-
marena-related cases. An official of his of-
fice says that Mexican investigators are
still studying new information and new
suspects in the cases. The investigation, he
says, could take "many years."
Not all the suspects have had to wait
that long. Jose Contreras Subias, arrested
with Mr. Caro Quintero in Costa Rica, was
flown to Tijuana to stand trial on unrelated
drug and murder charges. He was in-
stalled in a private cell complete with pri-
vate guards and a computer so he could
keep track of outside business transac-
tions. Nonetheless, Mr. Contreras grew
tired of his surroundings and disappeared
one day in October 1985.
The chief of the Tijuana jail, Gaston
Romo Barragan, later confessed that he
and three policemen arranged for Mr. Con-
treras's escape in exchange for $16,000.
Then Mr. Romo repudiated his confession,
saying that Mexican Federal Judicial Pa
lice had obtained it by torturing him.
The Camarena case and the arrest of
part of the Guadalajara confederation con-
stitute one of the largest and most difficult
criminal matters ever brought before Mex-
ico's court system. As a kind of legal back-
stop to Mexico's proceedings, the U.S. Jus-
tice Department is conducting a separate
criminal investigation of the Camarena
killing, bringing witnesses before a grand
jury in Washington.
Unusual Procedures
A major complication, according to U.S.
investigators, is that Mexican authorities,
who control most of the major witnesses
and evidence, have so far been unwilling to
share them. This impasse has led to some
unusual investigative procedures. ?
In January, DEA agents induced six
Mexicans, including four members of the
Baja California State Judicial Police, to
kidnap Rene Martin Verdugo Urquidez, 34,
a wealthy Mexicali "land developer," who
was pushed through the fence at the U.S.
border at Calexico, Calif., into the waiting
hands of U.S. marshals. Mr. Verdugo was
later indicted in federal court in San Diego
on charges of running a helicopter service
that regularly flew "multi-ton quantities of
marijuana" into Arizona. The account of
his arrest was confirmed by a U.S. attor-
ney in the San Diego proceedings.
DEA investigators are also interested in
Mr. Verdugo because they believe he
bought his marijuana from Mr. Caro Quin-
tero and may have been present during the
torture of Mr. Camarena. So far, Mr. Ver-
dugo isn't talking.
pftigialS have ,spentmaei-
barrasaing:hbUri trying to explaiwthen--.--
.glectintridaCies.of the Camarena cast and
the extent of Mexico's drug and pollee cor-
ruption problems. Although U.S. officials
say that President Miguel de la Madrid
Hurtado has a much better enforcement
record than his predecessor, Mr. Lopez
Portillo, it has been a difficult image to
project abroad.
In summing up Mexico's view of the Ca-
marena case and the vast network of brib-
ery, corruption and drug dealing that it ex-
posed, a Mexican law-enforcement official,
who asks not to be identified, admits that it
poses the need for major reforms. "We
must reconstruct the police," he says, an
effort that has already begun with higher
pay and more stringent recruiting stan-
dards for Mexican Federal Judicial Police
trainees.
What troubles Mexico the most, he
notes, is people who see the corruption as a
peculiarly Mexican phenomenon. The net-
work, he argues, is almost entirely a
wholesale operation aimed at Moving
drugs north to the U.S. border. "We are a
poor country, and we do not yet have a
major drug-addiction problem," he says.
The economic structure, he suggests,
wouldn't exist without a similarly large
U.S. wholesale and retail network, proba-
bly also sheltered by wide corruption.
"What we have discovered is like a big,
illegal diving board," he says. "On your
side, there must be a swimming pool."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
VI. 24 Dec 86
_?
jirE.X.I_C 0 M. 1 -
NAVY INCREASES SURVEILLANCE BY 70 PERCENT
PA182300 Mexico City Red Nacional 13 Imevision Television in Spanish 1955 GMT 18 Dec 86
[Text] Navy Secretary Admiral Miguel Angel Gomez Ortega has said that surveillance to
protect the sovereignty of our Seas has been broadened by 70 percent. Jorge Tenorio
has the report:
[Begin recording] [Tenorio] The preservation of our national sovereignty and maritime
resources constitutes a real contribution to the reaffirmation of the country's
independence, Navy Secretary Adm Miguel Angel Gomez Ortega has stressed. He added that
this institution has been modernized to an acceptable degree despite the current
crisis.
[Gomez Ortega] The Mexican Navy -- to the extent it has been possible because of the
economic crisis -- has modernized to an acceptable degree. Moreover, we must note that
this modernization has been carried out partially with Mexican technology and manpower,
particularly from the navy itself.
[Tenorio] Adm Gomez Ortega said that additional human and material resources have made
it possible to increase the vigilance in our seas by 70 percent. He announced that
there will soon be exercises as part of the national contingency plan for oil spills,
with the purpose of determining the effectiveness of recently acquired computerized
equipment. [end recording]
NAVY SECRETARY REPORTS ON ANTIDRUG-DRIVE-7j
_
FL240145 Mexico City NOTIMEX in Spanish 0001 GMT 24 Dec 86
[Text] Mexico City, 23 Dec (NOTIMEX) -- President Miguel de la Madrid today held
private meetings with Fidel Velazquez, leader of the Confederation of Mexican Workers;
Admiral Miguel Angel Gomez Ortega, secretary of the Navy; and Eliseo Mendoza Berrueto,
leader of the Chamber of Deputies.
The Navy secretary informed the president of the Mexican Navy's participation in the
federal government's program to fight drug trafficking this year.
In the antidrug drive, he said, 43,495 kg and 2,138 plants of cannabis were seized, as
were 9,370 kg of cannabis seet, 810 poppy plants, and 233 kg of cocaine.
He noted that more than 67,000 kg of cannabis, 31,000 kg of cannabis seed, ad 577,000 .
cannabis plants were burnt, and. 11.5 hectares and 4 marijuana plantations were
destroyed,. with the arrest' of' 46 Mexicans, 17 foreigners, and 12 people of unknown .
nationality.
He also told President de la Madrid that operation "Alerta" will begin in January both
in the Pacific Ocean and in the Gulf of Mexico, in order to pursue the constant
training of naval personnel. Surface, air, and land units will participate.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25: CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25 CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3
rI,
- liTtf-M1 PCig,
i4pAsat
2 Mexicans Arrested in Probe
Of Drug Agent's Murder
Charges Include Narcotics Trafficking, Conspiracy
? By Mary Thornton
Washington Post Staff Writer
? The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administra-
tion said yesterday that after a six-week
stakeout, two Mexican citizens have been
arrested in',Los Angeles in connection with
.the- 1985 kidnaping and murder in Mexico
. of 'federal drug agent Enrique Camarena
Salazar:
DEA spokesman Robert Feldkamp iden-
tified the suspects, arrested Wednesday, as
Jesus Felix-Gutierrez, 38, and his nephew
Carlos'. Felix-Gutierrez, 26. Feldkamp said
,the men; who will be arraigned: Monday,
will be charged with narcotics trafficking
violations and conspiracy to kidnap and
murder Camarena and Alfredo Zavala Ave-
lar, who worked part-time for DEA in Mex-
ico as a pilot.
Although Feldkamp said he could not
comment further on the case, Justice De- -
partMent sources said that investigators
think that the Older Gutierrez Was present.
the.Guadalajara house where Camarena
and Zavala were tortured and killed and that
the nephew may have been there.
The sources cautioned, however, that
although the two men may have been
present for a time at the house, they did not
carry out the murder and are not consid-
ered ringleaders in the conspiracy.
Investigators said, the men are consid?
ered "significant" to, the Camarena inves-
? tigation becatise of their knowledge of other
key members of the conspiracy. When the
men are arraigned Monday before a federal
magistrate in Los, Angeles, "we'll go as far
as we have to go.. in convincing the magis-
trate that they can provide infcirmation on
the murders to a grandjury and [the DEAL"
said a federal source.
The sources said they think that the men
are part of the organization of Mexican drug
lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who is being
held in a Mexican prison in connection with
the murders. "They were part of the Quin-
tero organization. They work on' both sides
of the border: in Guadalajara and in. the
United States through their contacts in Cal-
ifornia, particularly Los Angeles. They are
drug distributors, especially marijuana," one
federal official said.
The arrests were made about 11:30 a.m.
PST Wednesday by a task force of 45
agents from DEA; the Federal Bureau of
Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, To-
bacco and Firearms, and the Immigration
and Naturalization Service.
One Justice Department official said the
arrests followed a six-week stakeout of ar-
eas in Los Angeles that the men were con-
sidered likely to visit. "We've been looking
for these guys for six weeks," he said. "We
knew they had friends in L.A. area. We
started looking for them around Thanksgiv-
ing, but they didn't show. We figured they'd
be here for Christmas."
Sources said a woman in the Los Angeles
area is believed to be the older suspect's
wife or girlfriend. Her house and five others
were staked out. One federal source said
the elder Felix-Gutierrez went to the wo-
man's house Tuesday.night as agents sur-
rounded the area and was arrested quietly
Wednesday morning.
The agent said the hope was one of
, about six locations in the Los Angeles area
for which search warrants had , been ,ob-
tained in the effort to,catch the elder Gu-
tierrez..? He did not know whether the
younger 'suspect was picked up at one of the
other locations.
Investigators Said' that.,,searth?warrants
were obtained for each of 'the locations. At
one location, investigators found $35,000 in
cash and 114 kilos of cocaine. But a DEA
'official in Washington said the main focus of
the investigation was,the two suspects,' not
the drugs. ?
Camarena was kidnaped Feb. 7, 1985; on
the street outside" the U.S. COnsulate in
downtown Guadalajara as he was on his way
to meet his wife for lunch. A few hours lat-
er, the Mexican pilot, Avelar, was kidnaped.
The bodies of Camarena and Avelar were
found a month later in a shallow grave be-
side the road at a retinae ranch about 70
miles outside Guadalajara...Forensic experts
.said the men had been tortured and mur-
dered elsewhere, then dumped there.
Two other Mexicans are also in U.S. cus-
tody in connection with the Camarena ciSe.
Last Monday, a federal jury in San Diego
convicted Mario Martinez Herrara, 38,
identified by U.S. officials as a Mexican in-
ternal security agent, of perjury for lying to
a grand jury investigating the Camarena
slaying. It was the first conviction in a U.S.
court related to the Camarena case.
Mexican officials have denied that Mar-
tinez is one of their agents. U.S. authorities
allege that Martinez was present when Ca-
marena was interrogated by hiscaptors,
thought to be Mexican drug smugglers.
Martinez was allegedly linked to the murder
scene by hair and blood samples and by fin-
gerprints.
Rene Martin Verdugo, who has been con-
victed in California on federal drug charges,
was apprehended last January by U.S. mar-
shals after a group of Mexican policemen
brought him to the California border and
pushed him through a hole in the fence. Be-
cause of concerns about their safety, the
Mexican policemen and their families were
given visas allowing temporary residence in
the United States.
im,,,Inecifiori in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/07/25 CIA-RDP98-01394R000200030039-3