ABSTRACT
Foot-dragging by Mexican officials investigating the execution infuriated the overwhelmingly Mexican-American population of Camarena's Salazar hometown of Calexico, California. The incident reflected both the drug kingpins' arrogance and the grotesque failure of corrupt Mexican officials to conduct a legitimate investigation. American officials accused their Mexican counterparts of allowing Camarena's killers to escape. When lawyers employed a technicality to overturn this conviction, the Mexican Attorney General's Office insisted that Caro Quintero would not be freed because he was already behind bars for another crime. Camarena's execution reverberated throughout Washington and poisoned US-Mexican relations for years. The Mexican president first brought in Army commanders to revamp the country's drug-control strategy. A number of Mexican functionaries were believed to be involved in drug trafficking and a leak might have torpedoed the venture. Mexican syndicates also produce methamphetamines and marijuana north of the Rio Grande.
