Hero of the Week 85

 Welcome back viewers

This week's hero is...

Enrique Camarena

Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar was born on July 26, 1947, in Mexicali, Mexico. His family immigrated to Calexico, California when he was only six. After graduating from high school, Kiki enlisted in the US Marine Corps. After serving for three years, he received a discharge and joined the Calexico Police Department in 1970. 

While serving in law enforcement Kiki quickly distinguished himself as an undercover narcotics investigator. In 1973, the government established the Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate and dismantle the trafficking of drugs (namely cocaine, marijuana, and heroin) over the US-Mexican border. The DEA began to aggressively recruit Spanish speaking officers to serve as government agents. Due to his experience with going after drug dealers, Kiki was offered a position as a special agent. He readily accepted.

In 1980, Kiki was sent to the Mexican city of Guadalajara. His mission was to infiltrate the local cartel and report the locations of marijuana plantations. For the next four years, Kiki successfully weeded out information of the drug cartels and helped coordinate numerous arrests and killings of Mexican drug lords. In 1984, a tip from Kiki to Mexican police led to the discovery of a 2,500 acre marijuana plantation in the Allende municipalities. It's destruction caused the Guadalajara Cartel to lose more than $8 billion dollars. 

Unfortunately, corrupt officials in the Mexican government betrayed Kiki to the cartel. On February 7, 1985, he was abducted by the drug lords and tortured for over a 30 hour period. When he refused to give any information he was murdered. His body was found on March 5. Little did the Guadalajara Cartel leaders know, that murdering Kiki Camarena would bring about their destruction.

Outraged over Kiki's violent murder, the DEA launched it's largest homicide investigation ever taken. The murderers were quickly identified as having ties to the Mexican government. Under pressure from the DEA, Mexican President, Miguel de la Madrid ordered the apprehension and trial of three high-ranking drug lords. Ultimately at least seven men were arrested, extradited, and sentenced to decades in prison for kidnapping and murdering Kiki Camarena. With the arrest and incarceration of it's leaders, the Guadalajara Cartel ultimately went defunct in 1989.

Today, Enrique Camarena Salazar is remembered as one of America's bravest and most noble DEA agents. For his heroism, he was posthumously awarded the Administrator's Award of Honor. His story was later told in the Netflix series, Narcos: Mexico. He truly is someone to be held in high regard.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/politics/2020/02/27/enrique-camarena-dea-agent-murder-narcos-mexico/2566023001/

https://www.justthinktwice.gov/article/special-agent-enrique-kiki-camarena

https://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-gallardo-20170824-story.html