Guadalajara Cartel Founder Rafael Caro Quintero Made Deals With Rival Beltran Leyva to Bolster Power After 2013 Release, Leaked Documents Reveal

After being freed in 2013, Guadalajara Cartel founder Rafael Caro Quintero has reportedly tried to bolster his power and rebuild his criminal empire, according to a leaked Mexican army document.

News outlet El Pais revealed the content of the document labeled "Caro Quintero meetings in Sinaloa de Leyva and Guasave" after acquiring millions of leaked Defense Ministry emails. Sinaloa de Leyva and Guasave are two municipalities at Sinaloa state.

According to the leaked document, the army learned that the Guadalajara Cartel founder took part in a "key meeting" in Sinaloa after being freed from a Mexican prison and soon went underground. There, he reportedly took over a rival drug cartel and exercised control over the northern highlands of Mexico.

The Mexican army had reportedly monitored the activities and movements of Caro Quintero for five years before he was captured last July.

Guadalajara Cartel Founder Rafael Caro Quintero's Return to Drug Trafficking

Many thought that Rafael Caro Quintero, who previously allied with the Sinaloa Cartel, would retire from his criminal career after a court decision freed him.

But the Mexican army document said the Guadalajara Cartel founder held a meeting at a mountain lake hotel in Sinaloa in 2017 "to take over the Beltran Leyva criminal organization," an enemy of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Caro Quintero had reportedly allied with his long-time rival after power struggles emerged following Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera's extradition to the United States.

The Defense Ministry report said the Mexican drug kingpin forged an alliance with the leader of the Beltran Leyva organization Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, which expanded and increased his power while he was on the run.

The report also revealed that Caro Quintero's comeback into the drug trade played a key role in the violent power struggle to control Mexico's northern state of Sonora, a crucial area for drug trafficking and other illicit activities.

The Mexican army file seemed to be solid evidence that the Guadalajara Cartel founder went back into his criminal activities and consolidated power back home in Sinaloa before his recent arrest.

Arrest of Guadalajara Cartel Founder Rafael Caro Quintero

Rafael Caro Quintero is one of the founders of the Guadalajara Cartel, along with Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo. Dubbed the "Narco of Narcos," he was considered a pioneer in Mexico's drug underworld during the 1980s.

The Guadalajara Cartel founder had spent 28 years in prison for the brutal murder and torture of former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar.

Caro Quintero was allegedly angry about a raid at Rancho Buffalo, a huge marijuana plantation in Mexico's Chihuahua state, at Camarena's demand. Mexican authorities seized the plantation.

Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara in February 1985. A month later, his lifeless body was discovered, with signs showing that he was tortured. Caro Quintero, who was arrested in Costa Rica in the same year, has denied involvement in the killing of Camarena.

In 2013, the Guadalajara Cartel founder was released by a Mexican judge on a technicality. An appeals court overturned the verdict, and the Supreme Court upheld the sentence. However, it was too late, as Rafael Caro Quintero already went underground.

Mexican authorities then issued a new warrant for his arrest, and the DEA also put him on their most wanted fugitives list. Authorities in Mexico said he should continue serving the remainder of his original 40-year sentence.

Last July, the Guadalajara Cartel founder was arrested again in Sinaloa. The U.S. government hailed the arrest and said it would waste no time requesting his extradition.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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