Originating in the late 1970s, the cartel, run by Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, united Mexico’s narcos like never before (Cockburn 349). In its prime, “the Guadalajara Cartel was the only drug trafficking organization in Mexico, with a corruption network that spanned the country,” (Beith). The size and reach of the Guadalajara cartel was unlike any other drug enterprise that had previously come out of Mexico. The harrowing torture and murder of Kiki Camarena at the hands of an intricate crime syndicate consisting of Mexican drug lords, law enforcement, and elected officials, sparked a fresh American vigor for the “War on Drugs” south of the border, while in turn, fundamentally altering the role of the DEA in the perpetual fight between law enforcement and trafficking enterprises. This proved to be the turning point in the way the US dealt with drug cartels as it forced the US to come face to face with the brutal realities of the trafficking trade. “That was the last time anyone but his kidnappers would see him alive,” as over the ensuing 30-hours following his kidnapping, Kiki was mercilessly tortured and eventually murdered at the home of Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the three leaders of the Guadalajara cartel (Cockburn 349). However, before he could do so, corrupt Mexican officials plucked Kiki off the streets of Guadalajara on (Beith 47). After the raid, the cartels suspected Kiki was on the verge of uncovering and exposing more significant cartel trafficking routes and operations. It garnered little to no respect within the widely corrupt infrastructure of Mexican society. It is important to note that in the early 1980s, unlike today, the DEA was a smaller agency with little clout.
The raid both frightened and infuriated the Guadalajara cartel, especially public figures whose connections to the cartel needed to remain secret.
It generated an estimated $8 billion per year in revenue (Beith 47). “Rancho Búfalo” was a massive 2,500-acre marijuana plantation run by the Guadalajara cartel. Kiki Camarena, The Guadalajara Cartel, and the Start of an International Drug WarĪfter more than four years chasing drugs around Mexico, Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a DEA agent stationed in Guadalajara, finally tipped off Mexican law enforcement to raid “Rancho Búfalo” in late 1984.
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