| Summary/Abstract |
On February 7, 1985, Mexican drug kingpins abducted Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, stationed in Guadalajara, Mexico, then the epicenter of Mexico’s drug trade. Mexican and U.S. authorities conducted an intensive manhunt for both Camarena and his kidnappers, and the incident produced bitter conflict between Mexican leaders and the administration of Ronald Reagan. After nearly a month, the mutilated bodies of Camarena and Alfredo Zavala Avelar, a Mexican pilot who flew missions with him, turned up in the state of Michoacán.1 Camarena had cultivated alliances that ultimately led him to his death while embedded in the DEA’s fight against the drug trade in Mexico. According to the DEA’s institutional history, Camarena was “close to unlocking a multi-billion dollar drug pipeline,” a pipeline purportedly linked to the Mexican government.
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