David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
La Jornada newspaper
Friday, September 19, 2025, p. 8
New York and Washington. Rafael Caro Quintero appeared before his fourth procedure hearing in the Court of the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn, in which federal judge Frederick Block considered his request to modify the conditions of his imprisonment, and prosecutors and defense lawyers continued with the preparation for eventual trial.
Prosecutors informed the judge to continue sharing evidence and other evidence in the case, and that they are proceeding to a trial, although they did not indicate whether there is negotiation. Probative elements include interrogation and torture recordings of the American agent Enrique Kiki Camarena, killed in February 1985, in Guadalajara.
The process against Caro Quintero has less to do with some blow against the current drug trafficking and almost everything with avenge the death of an agent of the drug control (DEA) in 1985, something that prosecutors and the presence of officers of that agency in each hearing have underlined.
In addition, it faces multiple criminal charges and if it is convicted, it could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
▲ With clear coffee uniform, the defendant listened carefully during the audience and showed no reaction. In case of being guilty, Caro Quintero could face life imprisonment.Photo Court Art/ Jane Rosenberg
The defendant, in Coffee Reo Uniform, listened carefully without any reaction. His nephew, Ismael Quintero Arellano, is included in this same case. The next procedure hearing was scheduled for October 16.
Caro Quintero was first presented to this court on February 28, one day after he and another 28 nationals were delivered by the Mexican government to the US authorities, and who according to official documents and communications of Washington, were “expelled”, not “extradited.”
The Caro Quintero process is carried out in the same Federal Court where Joaquin were prosecuted El Chapo Guzmán and Genaro García Luna, and where Ismael May Zambada is waiting for a possible trial.
For now it will remain imprisoned in the same detention center in Brooklyn, where they are held May and several high -profile US prisoners.
