In 1984, acting on information received from a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent, Mexican Army troops destroy over 1,000 hectares of cannabis crop belonging to the drug lord known as “El Padrino”. The next year, on February 7th, that same agent is abducted while on assignment in Mexico. This agent’s name is Enrique Camarena Salazar, or “Kiki” for short.
It turns out Camarena is abducted by the henchman of none other than El Padrino, who is looking to send a punitive message to those who would dare act against him. What ensues is over thirty hours of torture, which ultimately leaves Camarena dead, with nearly every bone in his body having been crushed, a hole having been drilled right into his skull. [PoD:] Not only this, but El Padrino enlisted the aid of his stateside associates, and called for a hit on Camarena’s family in Fresno. Consequently, on the same day of the abduction, Camarena's wife Sofia, and their six-year old daughter Camila, are killed by a vehicle-based improvised explosive device. Both incidents make headlines, and public is in an uproar over the killings, with the corpses of Camarena's family being displayed on national television.
The DEA reads this message loud and clear, and responds accordingly.
Operation Leyenda is launched, the largest undertaken by the agency to date. A special unit is dispatched to Mexico to work alongside Mexican authorities in identifying guilty parties within the Mexican government and Law Enforcement agencies. A large scale crack down is also initiated on the American side of the border, with numerous associates of El Padrino finding themselves behind bars within days of the attacks.
The Reagan administration also responds to the attacks.
Both the President and the First Lady appear on national television, addressing the nation live. Ronald Reagan explicitly names the drug lords to the south, as well as the narcotics they traffick, as a “clear and present danger to the national security of these United States.” This address would be accompanied by a bill which would be quickly passed through Congress, securing additional funding for the Drug Enforcement Agency as well as the Central Intelligence Agency, for use in combating organized trafficking rings outside the United States.
It would be the February 7th attacks which would spark what would be known as the “War on Drugs”, a keypoint in the Reagan Administration’s foreign policy as well as domestic agenda.
It turns out Camarena is abducted by the henchman of none other than El Padrino, who is looking to send a punitive message to those who would dare act against him. What ensues is over thirty hours of torture, which ultimately leaves Camarena dead, with nearly every bone in his body having been crushed, a hole having been drilled right into his skull. [PoD:] Not only this, but El Padrino enlisted the aid of his stateside associates, and called for a hit on Camarena’s family in Fresno. Consequently, on the same day of the abduction, Camarena's wife Sofia, and their six-year old daughter Camila, are killed by a vehicle-based improvised explosive device. Both incidents make headlines, and public is in an uproar over the killings, with the corpses of Camarena's family being displayed on national television.
The DEA reads this message loud and clear, and responds accordingly.
Operation Leyenda is launched, the largest undertaken by the agency to date. A special unit is dispatched to Mexico to work alongside Mexican authorities in identifying guilty parties within the Mexican government and Law Enforcement agencies. A large scale crack down is also initiated on the American side of the border, with numerous associates of El Padrino finding themselves behind bars within days of the attacks.
The Reagan administration also responds to the attacks.
Both the President and the First Lady appear on national television, addressing the nation live. Ronald Reagan explicitly names the drug lords to the south, as well as the narcotics they traffick, as a “clear and present danger to the national security of these United States.” This address would be accompanied by a bill which would be quickly passed through Congress, securing additional funding for the Drug Enforcement Agency as well as the Central Intelligence Agency, for use in combating organized trafficking rings outside the United States.
It would be the February 7th attacks which would spark what would be known as the “War on Drugs”, a keypoint in the Reagan Administration’s foreign policy as well as domestic agenda.