SAN DIEGO (CN) - Family members of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent killed in Mexico 40 years ago filed suit in San Diego federal court on Thursday to consider the agent's murder as an act of international terrorism and find Guadalajara Cartel kingpins civilly liable.
According to the family in their complaint, DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" S. Camarena and his colleague, pilot Alfredo Zavala-Avelar, were kidnapped in front of the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1985. Over the course of several days, members of the Guadalajara Cartel tortured both men before killing them.
"Kiki was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in retribution for the DEA's investigation, seizure, and destruction of marijuana grown at the Buffalo ranch. These heinous acts were intentionally undertaken to interfere with any law enforcement investigation concerning the defendants continuing criminal enterprise and to deter U.S. and Mexican authorities from conducting any investigation into defendants' activities in the future," the families write in their complaint.
After President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's designation of multiple cartel groups and gangs in Latin America as "foreign terrorist organizations," the family claims the Guadalajara Cartel and their members who have been indicted for killing Camarena should also be held liable for violating international terrorism laws.
The family names three defendants as responsible for violating U.S. terrorism laws as well as claims for assault and battery, wrongful death, infliction of emotional distress, loss of consortium and civil conspiracy: Rafael Caro-Quintero, Ernesto Fonseca-Carrillo and Miguel Angel Felix-Gallardo.
All three were arrested, tried and sentenced to decades in prison in Mexico for their involvement in drug trafficking and Camarena's murder.
After their arrests, lieutenants in the cartel, including Joaquin Archivaldo "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera, worked closely with Caro-Quintero to take control of parts of the Sinaloa Cartel, the family claims, which was named as a terrorist group by the Trump administration last month.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control refers to the Sinaloa Cartel and the Guadalajara Cartel as the same organization on its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, the family adds in their complaint.
"Defendants' conduct appears to have been, and was, intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, and/or to influence the policy of the United States and Mexican governments by intimidation, and/or to affect the conduct of the United States and Mexican governments by the kidnapping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena in Guadalajara, Mexico," the family writes in their complaint.
In 2013, Caro-Quintero was released from prison after a Mexican appellate court ruled that his murder trial was incorrectly tried, the family says in their complaint. Mexican authorities appealed that ruling and the court reinstated his conviction. An arrest warrant was issued, but Caro-Quintero went into hiding. He was eventually caught after ten years on the lam.
Last month, Mexico expelled Caro-Quintero to the U.S. along with 28 other accused drug cartel leaders and drug traffickers.
Caro-Quintero plead not guilty last month to various drug trafficking charges in the Eastern District of New York, including one count of leading a continuing criminal enterprise, which includes murder conspiracy, two counts of international narcotics distribution conspiracy; and one count of unlawful use of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.
Several of Camarena's family members who brought the suit, including his widow, live in Southern California, which is why the case should be heard in the Southern District of California, they state in their complaint.
"My brother Kiki gave his life to protect our communities from the scourge of drugs and violence these cartels unleashed on the United States. For decades, we have carried the pain of his loss, but also his courage," Myrna Camarena, Camarena's sister, said in a statement.
"Thanks to President Trump's bold action in designating the Sinaloa Cartel as a terrorist organization and getting Mexico to expel one of the men responsible for Kiki's death, we finally have a chance to hold his killers accountable in a United States courtroom. On our mother's deathbed she wished she could live long enough to see this man brought to justice in the United States. This fight is for Kiki, for our family, and for every family torn apart by these ruthless criminals. Justice is long overdue, and we will not stop until it is served," she added
The family is asking the court to grant them damages after a jury trial.
Source: Courthouse News Service
