Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, most wanted by the United States, has been arrested in Mexico. This was confirmed by the Navy of the North American country of the German Press Agency. Details on the arrest of Caro Quintero, who, like Pablo Escobar in Colombia, was considered a “narco de narcos” (“drug lord of drug lords”) in the 1980s, are not yet available.
Caro Quintero ordered the murder of a DEA officer in 1985. The co-founder of the former Guadalajara cartel, Mexico’s first major drug cartel, has been on the run since 2013.
Rafael Caro Quintero has already spent 28 years of his life behind bars.
(Photo: Reuters Photographer/REUTERS)
At that time he was surprisingly released after 28 of 40 years in prison because of alleged procedural errors. The Mexican Supreme Court overturned this decision, but by then Caro Quintero was already on the run. The State Department in Washington put a $20 million bounty on his head. According to media reports, the drug lord has now been arrested by the Navy in the mountains of northern Mexico. Most recently, he is said to have led the smaller Caborca cartel.
The arrest of what used to be Mexico’s most powerful drug lord comes a few days after an official visit by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to Washington, where he was received by his US counterpart Joe Biden. It could be interpreted as a goodwill gesture by Mexico towards Washington following tensions over security, investment and migration.