Mexican drug lord to pay families of victims, including murdered US agent, $1m

Ernesto "Don Neto" Fonseca Carillo, co-founder of notorious Mexican Guadalajara drugs cartel, was ordered to pay the family of slain Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, and of a government pilot, $1m (£820,000) on Friday (13 January) it was reported.

Official sources have not yet named either party involved, though confirmed a drug lord convicted in the 1985 murder of a US DEA agent had been asked to pay compensation.

Camarena had been involved in an undercover operation at the time of his kidnapping, aged 37, in broad daylight in 1985.

Thirty days after his capture, Camarena's body was dumped on the side of a road, showing signs of torture.

The father of three, alongside pilot Captain Alfredo Zavala Avelar, had endured a brutal ordeal at the hands of his captors.

Over a 30-hour period, Camarena's skull, jaw, nose, cheekbones and windpipe had been crushed, and his ribs broken.

A hole had been drilled into his head with a screwdriver and he had been injected with amphetamines, to ensure he remained conscious throughout.

Fonseca was identified as one of three men responsible for the kidnap and subsequent killing and was capture shortly afterwards. He was convicted of Camarena's murder in Mexico and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment but was never extradited to the US to stand trial.

ABC reports the ruling orders Fonseca to pay P10m ($466,000) to the family of Camarena's family as well as to the family of the pilot.

Now reportedly aged between 74-86 – though his exact age is not known – Fonseca was released from prison in July 2016 to serve the final years of his sentence under house arrest, due to ill health.

Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo remains in prison for the killing, while Guadalajara co-founder Rafael Caro Quintero was mistakenly released in 2013 and remains wanted by the authorities.

The incident has been described as a turning point in the US's war against drug cartels, with the daylight kidnapping outside a US consulate building a brazen act, far further than cartels had gone in the past.

The subsequent convictions for the murder also saw the break-up of the Guadalajara cartel, putting in place the foundations for today's major players in Mexico's drug organisations.