Speaking at a press conference today in Mexico's Cámara de Diputados, the lower legislative chamber of congress, secretary of government Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong said the nine month old Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) government does not agree with the recent release of drug capo Rafael Caro Quintero, who was responsible for the murder of seven U.S. citizens in late 1984 and early 1985. One was a DEA agent who operated undercover out of the American Consulate in Guadalajara.
But the secretary added that the Enrique Peña Nieto administration fully respects the nation's judiciary, an independent entity in the Republic.
Caro Quintero was allowed to walk out of an Jalisco prison early on the morning of Aug. 9, 90 minutes after officials received a faxed order from a local federal court ordering his immediate discharge. The tribunal found that the former boss of the long defunct Guadalajara Cartel should have been tried for murder in state court, not a federal one. The drug kingpin's lawyers claim he can never be tried again for the same offenses. The death house on Lope de Vega.
"His release was not at the instance of the attorney general's office, nor of the federal government," emphasized Osorio Chong. "We don't agree with what happened, but we certainly respect our federal judicial authorities."
"We believe we have to take further action in this matter, and the attorney general is working on that now." But the secretary did not specify exactly what the government is doing. Nor did he explain why the Jalisco federal court ordered Caro Quintero's midnight habeas corpus release without sufficient time for a higher tribunal, including Mexico's Supreme Judicial Court, to review the ruling.
Last week Mexican attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam agreed to detain Rafael Caro Quintero at the request of American officials, while the U.S. applies for an Interpol arrest warrant and considers filing additional charges north of the border. Mexico, too, has decided to appeal the federal court's order which freed the drug lord. But no one knows where he is.
Still far from certain is whether Mexico would actually agree to extradite Caro Quintero to the U.S. if he is located, at least with respect to the 1985 murder charges. His Mexican legal counsel maintain that further prosecution of those offenses is barred by double jeopardy rules in both countries.
Aug. 23 - "Absurd and illogical," Mexico's A.G. calls court ruling which freed narco executioner
Nov. 6 - Mexican Supreme Court orders Guadalajara Cartel drug lord back to prison
Dec. 16 - Interpol asks for help in locating Rafael Caro Quintero
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