Enrique Camarena

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Camarena was born on July 26, 1947, in Mexicali, Mexico, and his family immigrated to Calexico, California when he was a child. After graduating from Calexico High School in 1966, he joined the Marines in 1968. Following his discharge in 1970, he returned to Calexico and joined the police department, then moved on to undercover narcotics work as a Special Agent on the Imperial County Narcotic Task Force. After the DEA was established in 1973, both Camarena and his sister Myrna joined the agency—Myrna as a secretary and Enrique as a special agent in the DEA's Calexico resident office. In 1977, he transferred to Fresno, where author Elaine Shannon described him as "a natural in the theater of the street," able to "slip effortlessly into a Puerto Rican accent or toss off Mexican gutter slang—whatever the role demanded." In 1980, a colleague suggested he apply for an assignment in Guadalajara, where a position was open. By this time, Camarena was married and had three sons. Guadalajara's spring-like weather, the American school, and the favorable exchange rate convinced him and his family the move would be good for them.

In Their Own Story

By the time Camarena took up his post in Guadalajara in the summer of 1980, drug trafficking in Mexico was on the rise. Under Mexican President José López Portillo, aerial eradication programs were curtailed and American participation ended in 1978, making it easier for producers to build large plantations. During Camarena's 4+1⁄2 years in Guadalajara, major traffickers arose—Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Rafael Caro Quintero—who often coordinated their production and operations, forming the core of what came to be called the Guadalajara Cartel. All three were found guilty of having participated in Camarena's kidnap and murder. Camarena's investigations often focused on the large marijuana plantations that emerged in the early 1980s, which used an improved production technique called "sinsemilla" (seedless). Several journalists, historians, former DEA and CIA officers, and Mexican police officers have written that the CIA was complicit in Camarena's murder because Camarena discovered CIA involvement in drug trafficking operations in Mexico used to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. The CIA has denied the allegations.

Reader's Guide

Enrique Camarena was a real DEA agent whose life and death became a catalyst for modern anti-narcotics efforts. Born in Mexicali, Mexico on July 26, 1947, he immigrated to Calexico, California as a child and graduated from Calexico High School in 1966. After serving in the Marines from 1968 to 1970, he joined the Calexico police department and later worked undercover on the Imperial County Narcotic Task Force. He joined the DEA in 1973 as a special agent in Calexico, then transferred to Fresno in 1977. In 1980, he moved to Guadalajara, where he investigated the growing power of the Guadalajara Cartel—specifically Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Rafael Caro Quintero. In February 1985, Camarena was kidnapped by police officers hired by the cartel, brutally tortured for information, and killed. His murder led to ten trials in Los Angeles for Mexican nationals involved in the crime. The case continues to trouble U.S.–Mexican relations, most recently when Caro Quintero was released from a Mexican prison in 2013 and recaptured in July 2022.

Did You Know?

• Camarena's sister Myrna also joined the DEA in 1973, working as a secretary.
• His oldest brother, PFC Eduardo Camarena-Salazar, died of malaria while serving with the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam in September 1965.
• Camarena was able to 'slip effortlessly into a Puerto Rican accent or toss off Mexican gutter slang—whatever the role demanded,' according to author Elaine Shannon.
• The U.S. investigation into Camarena's murder led to ten trials in Los Angeles for Mexican nationals involved in the crime.
• Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the three convicted traffickers, was released from a Mexican prison in 2013 and recaptured by Mexican forces in July 2022.