Friday, November 4, 2016

VICTOR CORTEZ WAS A MINOR PLAYER IN CAMARENA PROBE

By Juan Montoya
New revelations by the supervisor of the operation investigating the torture and February 1985 death of DEA agent Kike Camarena that the CIA and the Mexican government were behind the crimes have spurred questions into the role of a Republican candidate for Cameron County Sheriff.

Victor Cortez, former chief of Internal Affairs and Public Integrity Unit with the Cameron County District Attorney's Office, said he was kidnapped, tortured and ultimately had to be rescued after he volunteered to join Operation Leyenda, headed by Supervisor Hector Berrellez to find those responsible for Camarena's death.

Operation Leyenda was formed in 1986 and Berrellez was named as its head.
Berrellez and former DEA official Phil Jordan are now alleging that CIA operatives killed Camarena trying to find out how much he knew of narcos and government offiicals' ties to the drug cartels.
Just recently, the two former DEA agents say two former CIA operatives had turned over Camarena to the Mexican narcos.

Their revelations came two months after Mexico's release of kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero from prison. Caro Quintero and two other high-level drug-traffickers had been sentenced to 40 years for their roles in Camarena's kidnapping, torture and murder.

They were not the only ones. Former CIA contract pilot Tosh Plumlee joined Jordan and Berrellez in making the allegations. Celestino Castillo III, another former DEA agent and author of "Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War," told LA Weekly that Jordan, Berrellez and Plumlee "are right on the money."
Cortez told a local daily that he had arrested Sergio Espino Verdin, an ex-commander of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad, the Federal Security Directorate, but that the Mexican government had released him and – after he himself was kidnapped and tortured – ordered Cortez out of the country as a person non grata.

Espino Verdin is still listed among the most wanted by the United States, as is Rafael Caro Quintero, the leader of the organization referred to in U.S. federal court records as the Guadalajara Narcotics Cartel.
Cortez said he was seized in a car and then found out the informant he was with had firearms in the trunk and the car they drove was not registered. On August 13, he was arrested by Mexican police, held and tortured, until his supervisor rescued him.

He told the local daily that from Mexico he was transferred to Tucson, Az., where he became an instructor and group supervisor and the was assigned to Quantico, Bolivia, San Antonio, Ecuador and California.
His last post when he retired from the DEA in 2008 was Miami. He returned to Brownsville, and worked for U.S. Customs and Border Protection Internal Affairs in McAllen.

After Cortez was reassigned to Tucson, Berrellez went on to indict four cartel members. They were convicted in U.S. federal court in 1992. Ruben Zuno Arce, a wealthy Mexican businessman and son-in-law to former Mexican President Luis Echeverría Álvarez, was convicted of kidnapping, as were Juan Ramón Matta Ballesteros, a Honduran drug trafficker, and Juan Jose Bernabe Ramirez, a former Mexican policeman.

Javier Vasquez Velasco was convicted of murdering two American tourists in Guadalajara on the orders of druglords who mistook them for DEA agents.
Another man allegedly involved in the Camarena killing got off far easier: the doctor who was believed to have injected him with adrenaline to keep him coherent while being tortured – the doctor who'd been kidnapped in April 1990 by Mexican bounty hunters working on Berrellez's orders.

"The shit hit the fan because it was all over the news that this doctor had been kidnapped by the DEA out of Mexico," Berrellez, whose name was leaked as the orchestrator of the kidnapping, told LA Weekly.
In that article, it states that the Mexican government protested the kidnapping as a violation of national sovereignty and issued a warrant for Berrellez's arrest. They also demanded that Machaín be returned to Mexico. A district judge in Los Angeles dismissed the charges and ordered the doctor released.

Cortez is now running for Cameron County Sheriff based on his exploits in the Camarena investigation. But what were his actual, tangible accomplishments?
The man he captured is still on the loose as is Caro Quintero. He had to be rescued by his supervisor because he was careless and let himself get captured and had to be taken out of the country. And drugs still flowing across the border.

Now, with Berrellez's revelations that the whole thing had been orchestrated by the CIA and the U.S. government, it's clear that his role in the Camarena investigation was a relatively minor asterisk in the larger context.

For more on this story, click on links below:

http://www.laweekly.com/news/how-a-dogged-la-dea-agent-unraveled-the-cias-alleged-role-in-the-murder-of-kiki-camarena-5750278

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_24343140/ex-dea-officials-make-bombshell-allegations-about-kiki



33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Juan you are a sad sad individual. You will stop at nothing to ruin VICTOR CORTEZ and his reputation. Luckily about 40-50k. Votes have been given in and no one will even bother to look at these lies. Good luck in continuing to write false stories =)

Anonymous said...

You live in LA LA LAND Juan. You prefer to take the word of ROGUE and DISCREDITED AGENTS who are looking for fame and money over a HERO tsk tsk tsk. You clearly are CLUELESS LOL

Anonymous said...

This is all he brings up. What the f&*k do he want? A medal. Pffft please short old monkey looking man.

Anonymous said...

"He was careless and let himself get captured" Did you really write that? So, like Trump, you like the ones that don't get captured. I can appreciate a good hatchet job but this one is pretty sloppy. We all got to make a living, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Get your facts straight, bro! You are a lying, sniveling mofo and it will come back to haunt you. Write the truth for once!

Anonymous said...

Victor Cortez is a joke

Anonymous said...

I wonder if that Cortez dude knows that the looser you wear your jeans the less likely women will talk behind your back about the cellulite protruding your pants?

Samuel Elizondo.

Anonymous said...

And Omar Lucio has had little to do with law and order in Cameron County and has a great deal to do with protecting the Reyna brothers, continuing the chronieism of Democratic politics in Cameron County and giving special treatment to folks like Joey de la Garza who was son of another corrupt Democratic official. The Reyna brothers run the Sheriff's office and that must be stopped. Lucio needs to go. My vote went to Cortez......

Anonymous said...

Puro glorifying the job

Anonymous said...

Se pone sombrero y ya se cree sheriff.....

Anonymous said...

Omar Lucio is the man for the job

Anonymous said...

Oooffa -wizard of OZ changito midget!!

Anonymous said...

Plese vote to reelected Sheriff Omar Lucio

Anonymous said...

I voted for Cortez. He's younger than Lucio!

Anonymous said...

OMAR LUCIO FOR SHERIFF
OMAR LUCIO FOR SHERIFF
OMAR LUCIO FOR SHERIFF

Anonymous said...

I don't trust Cortez

Anonymous said...

His role may have been peripheral but he played a part. He has federal law enforcement experience and that's a fact. Cortez will be a great replacement of Omar Lucio's circus of corruption.

Anonymous said...

Cortez got my vote a long time ago. Anyone but Lucio and the damn Reyna Bros

Anonymous said...

You are right 40-50k votes for Sheriff Omar Lucio

Anonymous said...

Hotter too!

Anonymous said...

My family vote is for Sheriff Omar Lucio

Anonymous said...

Hands down Victor Cortez is the best choice and an opportunity to rid the sheriff's dept of the two Reyna brothers. Good luck Cortez.

Anonymous said...

Definitely sheriff Omar Lucio is my opinion, as well the candidate of the citizens of Cameron county

cris hinojosa said...

you can do it victor !!
vote for victor !

Anonymous said...

I agree Cortez is a hottie!

Anonymous said...

Cortez is the BEST!!!!!!!!! Love ya sexy!

Anonymous said...

Omar Lucio has been an excellent sheriff
Vote to reelected Sheriff Lucio

The Pissed Off Conservative said...

LMAO the cortez sheep believe his bullcrap!!

Why am I not amazed, they believe any garbage he spews.

Juan just posten two links but there is plenty of information about the probeanx Cortez has little to no involvement in the case.

But it's ok, I don't expect the Cortez sheep to beliwvw in facts.

LMAO Cortez a hero!!

Anonymous said...

The truth is that Cortez won't win this or any election

Anonymous said...

Victor Cortez did a good job nailing Pat Ahumada with his illegal gambling operation
He has my support

Anonymous said...

They are both not good. Lucio has to go out. all he does is gets free medical from the jail and the Reyna brothers get free Viagras from the medical department. come on people there is so much corruption there and where is APA. he is to busy sleeping with the secretary's and making money selling HAY from property that is owned by the county. and don't forget of the stray farm animals his son picks up and makes money from that illegal crap. LUCIO is a CROOK.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to sheriff Omar Lucio for his victory

Former BISD taxpayer said...

Oh well, we will put up with Lucio for a year and then he'll try to give the reins to former alcoholic and drug addict, Gus Reyna. I will be praying for Jaiver to win his battle over cancer!

rita