DEA agent Kiki Camarena was murdered in Mexico in 1985. His alleged killer is now in the U.S. | Global News Avenue

DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena disappeared in 1985 and soon after he destroyed a billion-dollar marijuana business in Mexico.

On February 7, 1985, he went to a lunch with his wife Mika, then 37-year-old Camarena Surrounded by five armed personnel According to the Drug Enforcement Bureau, he threw him into the car and drove him away. DEA said he will be returning to the United States in only three weeks.

About a month after he disappeared, his body Discovered According to the DEA, on a ranch about 60 miles away. He was tortured.

Nearly forty years later, his so-called killer, poisonous lord Rafael Caro Quinterohead to the United States and 28 other prisoners The Justice Department confirmed Thursday night that the U.S. government request.

“This moment is very personal for the men and women of the DEA, who believe Caro Quintero is responsible for the cruel torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique’Kiki’Camarena. It is also a victory for the Camarena family,” DEA agent S. Maltz said in a statement.

“Today, the message to every cartel leader, every trafficker, every crime poisoning our community is poisoned: You are responsible. No matter how long it takes, no matter how long you run, justice will find you.”

The father of three sons serves his country

Camarena is the father of three sons, his son told CBS News In 2017 interview. He has been stationed on the tracks of the country’s largest marijuana and cocaine dealers for four years.

According to the DEA, he has worked with the DEA for 11 years after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and grew up there with a firefighter police officer, officer, and an Imperial County deputy sheriff, according to the DEA. Born in Mexico in Mexico, Camarena moved to the United States when he was nine years old.

He married his high school lover and moved to Mexico in 1981 with his young family.

At that time, the leader of the Guadalajara Cartel Quintero It was in the late 1970s and was one of the major suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana. He blamed Camarena for the 1984 marijuana plantation Rancho Bufalo, Mexico authorities, on which he was upsetting his business.

The DEA said it was the largest drug seizure ever.

In retaliation, Camarena was allegedly kidnapped in Guadalajara, allegedly according to the orders of Caro Quintero.

Camarena’s son vanished at the age of 11 when his father Enrique shared the same name. He remembers that a few hours after his disappearance, agents flooded their family residence.

“In about five to six hours, there were more than a dozen to twelve agents,” Enrique told CBS News in a 2017 interview. But he believed his father would go home.

“Well, your father’s Superman,” Enrique said. “So, you think, we’ll meet him. He’ll be fine.”

Enrique and his brothers were driven out of Mexico to the United States, and he remembered a broker picking him up and taking him from the living room to the waiting car. He will never see his father again.

Family Received a call After Carmelana’s body was found, then-President Ronald Reagan. Camerana’s wife also met Reagan at the White House.

Red Ribbon Week moves his memory forward

Shortly after his death, members of his hometown of Calexico began wearing red ribbons in honor of his sacrifice and launched the Camarena Club in his honor. Hundreds of club members wore red ribbons and promised to live a non-toxic life.

In 1985, club members introduced the “Camarena Club Promotion” to Nancy Reagan, then-first wife, and attracted national attention. In 1988, Congress was officially established Red Ribbon Weekwhich encourages parents, educators and businesses to promote a non-toxic lifestyle. The Enrique S. Camarena Education Foundation was later launched, which provides scholarships to high school students.

one memorial It was created based on the 2014 Camarena honors in Los Angeles.

His son, Enrique, became a judge in San Diego in 2014, told CBS News that he brought his father’s lessons to court. “He taught us to treat everyone fairly.”

Contributed to this report.