by Jeff Barnet, Managing Editor, and Ana Maria Ruiz-Brown, Staff Writer-Translator
El deceso de Amado
suicidio o ejecución
realidad o ficción
jamás quedará aclarado
As this epigram says, the death of Juárez drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, 41, may never be clear. It was more than week after his alleged death in a Mexico City operating room that Mexican authorities confirmed he was dead. Another week passed and still it was not confirmed how he had died. Authorities in Mexico's PGR (Federal Police) disagreed with the United States' Drug Enforcement Agency's method for identifying the corpse. News of his death dominated headlines in Juárez and Mexican newspapers for two weeks. Rumors abounded, including, of course, that Carrillo wasn't dead, after all, but only faking it.
He had good reason. The top drug trafficker in Mexico, Carrillo was transporting four times more cocaine to the U.S. than any other trafficker in the world, building a fortune of over $25 billion U.S. He was called the "Lord of the Skies" for his pioneering use of over 22 private 727 jet airliners to transport Colombian cocaine to secret airfields around Mexico, including Juárez. In the months before his death, Carrillo's business was growing exponentially: his cartel was shipping multi-ton shipments directly into Manhattan, and payments to Carrillo in the form of millions of dollars in cash were seized at the El Paso-Juárez border. According to wire reports, during that same time, Carrillo was jetting to Cuba, Russia, and other nations in search of a haven. He has been hunted since he took power of the cartel in April 1993 after the death of Rafael Aguilar Guajardo.
Credited by anti-drug agents as being one of the most low-key, sophisticated, and diplomatic of Mexico's cartel chiefs--he even formed joint operating agreements with rival trafficking groups--Carrillo's growing empire and alleged connection to General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo, top drug enforcement official, earned him recognition as "the most powerful of Mexico's drug traffickers" by the DEA last May. The pressure to capture Carrillo intensified among U.S. and Mexican authorities, and perhaps for this reason, Carrillo underwent plastic facial surgery and liposuction of his stomach to change his appearance the evening of July 3 at Santa Mónica Hospital in Mexico City. However, during the eight-hour operation, he apparently died of complications caused either by a medication or a malfunctioning respirator. Two of Carrillo's bodyguards were in the operating room during the procedure. It is unclear whether the lethal dose of the drug Dormicum was administered intentionally or in error, by the surgeon or the bodyguards. There are, in fact, many possible ways he could have died: shock or heart attack caused by the medicine alone or in conjunction with cocaine in Carrillo's system, by the bodyguards or by the surgeon, or by the malfunction of the respirator. Emergency doctors claim he was already dead when they were summoned to the operating room at 6:06 a.m., July 4. Carrillo's mother identified the horribly mutiliated face and body as that of her son that same day.
Some of the wilder theories reported in the Mexican newspapers hold that Carrillo's bodyguards smothered him with a pillow; or that the PGR tortured him to death first, then faked the plastic surgery (later autopsy reports seemed to rule this out); or, as was reported in El Financiero, the corpse was really that of Amado's cousin (presuming, of course, that Carrillo had paid someone to substitute his cousin's ID, DNA, blood samples, dental records, fingerprints for his own--indeed, Carrillo had purchased multiple sets of identities, according to the paper); or, perhaps the most unusual version, reported by respected radio and TV journalist Pedro Ferriz de Con, was that Carrillo killed himself. In a secret interview held recently before the drug lord's death, Ferriz de Con said Carrillo was suicidal, allegedly saying, "If I die, nobody killed me. The only person who can kill Amado Carrillo is Amado Carrillo."
The U.S. DEA was the first to confirm the dead body belonged to Amado Carrillo, four days after his alleged death, using fingerprints positively matched to an old U.S. immigration card. Mexican authorities disputed the accuracy of this method, however, and said they could not confirm the body as Carrillo's until further toxicological, DNA, and other tests. Finally, on July 11, Mariano Herran Salvatti, special anti-drug prosecutor in the Mexican Attorney General's Office, announced that the body was that of Carrillo, based on forensic tests including DNA, fingerprints, blood samples, scars, and ear shapes. However, Salvatti said he was still not sure if the death was caused by homicide or medical malpractice. As of July 22, officials were still debating whether it was the Dormicum, accidentally or intentionally administered, or the respirator. Nevertheless, the PGR has begun an investigation, beginning with Carrillo's surgeon, Pedro López Saucedo, to determine the degree of responsibility of Santa Mónica Hospital in the drug lord's death, according to Salvatti.
Whether the real Carrillo slipped away to another country or died in Mexico City, the fact remained that he was no longer operating as head of Mexico's largest (and Juárez-based) drug trafficking cartel. It was assumed immediate control of the cartel would fall to Amado's brother Vicente Carrillo, 34, who was already overseeing operations in Ciudad Juárez. Two other brothers work for the cartel, but DEA authorities said it would be unusual for there to be in-fighting among the organization. U.S. DEA chief Thomas Constantine and Mexican drug enforcement agents said they predicted a bloody battle among rival trafficking groups seeking to expand their own turf. They expected the Juárez cartel's fiercest challenger to be the rival Tijuana cartel, allegedly led by the Arellano Felix brothers, who control almost all the drug trafficking between Tijuana and Mexicali. Other major drug traffickers expected to vie for power, according to El Paso Times reports, included Jesus "Chuy" Amezcua Contreras, who mainly imports ephedrine from India and Thailand, which is then used to manufacture methamphetamines in the U.S. and Mexico, and Miguel Caro Quintero, leader of a cartel which has smuggled marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and weapons, mainly across the Sonora-Arizona border, since 1985.
However, as of July 29, U.S. and Mexican officials believe Sinaloa native Juan Jose Esparragoza "El Azul" Moreno appears to be emerging as the leader of the Juárez drug cartel. Nicknamed "The Blue" because of the color of his eyes, Esparragoza is known as a diplomatic trafficker with solid connections to Colombian cocaine suppliers. Amado Carrillo's brother Vicente probably is losing out on the leadership role because, according to a U.S. Justice Department official, "He's up to his [rear] in alligators right now trying to get all of his brother's money before the government or anyone else gets it."
Already, in the weeks following the confirmation of Carrillo's death, there have been five to a dozen drug-related assassinations in Ciudad Juárez, according to public news radio reports, and Juárez and Chihuahua police. Authorities say the killings are little more than streamlining of the organization. Juan Eugenio Rosales "The Genius" Ortiz, the most recent victim, was killed by unidentified men in identical dark uniforms using automatic weapons. Chihuahua state police (PJE) had been at Ortiz's house earlier in the day and seized $18,000 U.S., jewelry, and a Nintendo game system. A federal investigation has been launched to determine whether PJE agents were involved in the shooting, according to Armando Lima, federal police spokesman.
Intelligence officials say key drug traffickers have been meeting recently in heavily secured, back-room bunkers at Juárez strip clubs to sort out business. A Mexican federal police officer, who refused to be identified because he feared retaliation, said drug traffickers have been spotted all over town. "There is no reason to arrest them on sight because they haven't done anything. There are no warrants for their arrest. But we know who they are and we're keeping an eye on them," he said.
A top special DEA agent said he believes, as of July 29, that there will not be a bloody turf war in Mexico or anywhere else. "They're smart people and they're not going to attract attention to themselves," said Earnest Howard, DEA agent in charge of the Houston region.
In Juárez, the PGR seized warehouses they believed the cartel used for storage of weapons and cocaine. PGR agents have seized over 60 properties all over Mexico that belonged to Carillo, and have begun an investigation into his dealings with Mexican police and government officials--it is believed Carillo had many officials on his payroll. The PGR say he bribed or illegally employed hundreds of thousands of people. "He was a master at maintaining alliances," said Phil Jordan, a former DEA agent.
"The Lord of the Skies" was given a large and expensive funeral in his hometown of Guamuchilito, Sinoloa, where he was revered as a kind of "Robin Hood" by the people, according to a special report in the Diario de Juarez. He was known for giving away money, cattle, and presents to hundreds of people, including cars such as Ram Chargers, Grand Cherokees, Chevrolet Suburbans, and Lincoln Continentals. Don Amado Carrillo even built the village church. Though called a drug lord by federal agents, according to friends and family Carrillo was "a noble soul, loving with his family," a simple man who "loved baseball and enchiladas stuffed with hot red chile."
"There are no arrest or search warrants for Amado Carrillo Fuentes in Juárez now or before his death," Chihuahua State Police spokesman Ernesto Garcia said July 21. "As far as we know, he has not committed or been a part of any illegal activities here."
Sources: Diario de Juárez, El Norte de Ciudad Juárez, El Paso Times, WKRG-Public Radio, Las Cruces
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