U.S. Protests, Says Mexican Police Tortured Drug Agent : American Freed After Eight Hours

WASHINGTON — The United States today protested “the unprovoked and totally unjustified detention and torture” of an American drug agent by Mexican police in Guadalajara.

Just a day after Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid left Washington and promised renewed cooperation in fighting drug trafficking, White House spokesman Larry Speakes warned:

“Vigilantism by a state authority causes serious harm to the relationship necessary for our two countries to be able to combat drug trafficking and production.”

The White House said the Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Victor Cortez Jr., 34, and his Mexican informant were released Wednesday night only after the DEA in Mexico City asked for and won intervention from the office of Mexico’s attorney general, who was in Washington with De la Madrid at the time.

U.S. officials in Mexico, however, said the pair were freed only when DEA agents forced their way into the jail and demanded their return.

Officials Deny Torture

The formal U.S. protest will be delivered to the Mexican Foreign Ministry on Monday morning by U.S. Charge d’Affaires Morris Busby, a senior Administration official said.

Mexican officials, who declined to be identified, denied claims by U.S. officials that the two were tortured with electric cattle prods.

The Mexican sources said Cortez--who carried no DEA identification--and the Mexican man were seated in a parked car without license plates in a residential area of Guadalajara and were arrested as potential burglars. They said Cortez, who was armed at the time of arrest, was released after proving his identity with the help of the U.S. Consulate.

Cortez was flown to Tucson with his wife late Thursday, spent the night in an apartment and is undergoing medical examination at a hospital today, the White House said. Cortez and his wife have two children. Terrence Burke, a DEA agent in Phoenix, said Cortez is feeling “pretty chipper.”

Guadalajara, about 320 miles west of Mexico City, is where DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar was kidnaped in February last year. His body and that of his pilot were found a month later buried about 60 miles away in plastic bags. More than 100 people have been arrested in the grisly torture-murder, but only one, the former commander of the federal judicial police force, has been sentenced in connection with the crime.

Cortez was arrested outside a bowling alley just after De la Madrid and President Reagan exchanged pledges of border cooperation to fight drug trafficking, Speakes said. The agent was held about eight hours.

Charges ‘Vigilantism’

Calling the actions by the Jalisco state police, “vigilantism,” the spokesman said, “The police threatened Mr. Cortez and beat him and tortured him with a cattle prod during interrogation.

“He was released after the office of the Mexican attorney general interceded at the request of the United States,” he said.

“The United States protests the unprovoked and totally unjustified detention and torture of one of its officials,” Speakes said.

He noted, however, that the Administration is pleased that Mexican Atty. Gen. Sergio Garcia Ramirez has ordered an investigation. Both the FBI and DEA have also opened investigations.