Three Secretly Indicted in DEA Agent’s Slaying

Three key suspects have been secretly indicted in the slaying of U.S. drug agent Enrique S. Camarena, but announcement of the major break in the case has been delayed to avoid upsetting negotiations on a long-sought criminal justice treaty with Mexico, The Times learned Friday.

A Mexican federal judicial police commander, a major drug trafficker and his cousin were indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles May 13, capping two years of intense investigation into the 1985 slaying in Mexico, U.S. government sources say.

The charges were to have been unsealed two weeks ago but were held up by Associate Atty. Gen. Stephen S. Trott because of concerns about the effect on a proposed U.S.-Mexico treaty to facilitate exchange of evidence in criminal cases, officials said. The delay has frustrated U.S. officials involved in the high-priority probe who are eager to begin prosecution.

Those indicted were Armando Pavon Reyes, a federal police comandante who headed the investigation into the kidnaping of Camarena, a Guadalajara-based agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration; Rafael Caro-Quintero, whose drug organization allegedly lost billions of dollars of marijuana because of investigations spearheaded by Camarena, and Caro-Quintero’s cousin, Ines Calderon-Quintero.

Camarena was kidnaped at gunpoint outside the U.S. consulate in Guadalajara on Feb. 7, 1985. Two hours later, Alfredo Zavala-Avelar, a pilot who had flown missions for Camarena to locate marijuana fields, was abducted at the Guadalajara airport. Nearly a month later, their bodies, showing evidence of extreme torture, were found in Zamora, Mexico.

Charged With Murder

Caro-Quintero, the sources said, has been charged with kidnaping and the murder of the two men. Pavon and Calderon-Quintero have been charged with hindering and preventing his apprehension.

Trott, who has been described by one federal law enforcement official as “the best friend Mexico has in the (Justice) Department,” declined to confirm or deny that the indictments have been returned, saying that to do so would be “a crime.”

When asked about the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which Justice Department officials are eager to enter into with Mexico, Trott described the accord as “very valuable and very important. It will facilitate the exchange of information and the war on drugs.”

But he added that “under no circumstances would we sacrifice a case for an MLAT.”

Such treaties allow the Justice Department to exchange evidence directly with the ministry of justice in the treaty nation, cutting through much of the time-consuming red tape when the material is obtained through “letters of rogatory,” a court procedure that also involves diplomatic channels, a department official explained.

Create an Obligation

The treaties also create more of an obligation to exchange the information and cover investigation and prosecution--a broader time frame than provided for when the requests are made by courts.

Usually, indictments are sealed and not immediately made public to ensure the arrest of defendants who might otherwise flee. But this was not the reason in the Camarena case because Caro-Quintero was already being held in a Mexico City penitentiary on drugs and arms charges, and Pavon had been convicted for taking a bribe to let Caro-Quintero flee immediately after the kidnaping. Pavon is now believed to be incarcerated in Mexico while Calderon-Quintero apparently remains a fugitive.

One U.S. government source said the indictment was sealed in May because investigators believed that others likely to be charged on information still being developed would flee if the accusations were made public. But this did not prove to be the case, and plans were made to unseal the indictment Oct. 29 in Los Angeles, where DEA Administrator John C. Lawn and U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner were to discuss the charges at a press conference.

Lawn’s spokesman, Robert H. Feldkamp, would not confirm or deny that any indictment had been returned. But he did say that the DEA “had been planning a press conference in California to announce a significant development” in the Camarena investigation.

“We had agreed on a tentative time and date but were advised there was a procedural problem and that the announcement would be delayed for four to six weeks,” Feldkamp said.

Grim Details of Slayings

The sealed indictment and related papers are said to contain grim details of the conditions of the bodies of the two men, including indications that the pilot was buried while still alive.

They also are described as including a DEA agent’s account of seeing Comandante Pavon, accompanied by more than 20 heavily armed federal police, confront Caro-Quintero as he was preparing to flee Guadalajara two days after the kidnaping in a French-built jet. Although Pavon and his troops outnumbered Caro-Quintero’s handful of bodyguards, the two men embraced and Caro-Quintero was permitted to take off, the DEA agent said.

Caro-Quintero was subsequently arrested in Costa Rica and brought back to Mexico.

The Camarena case has strained U.S.-Mexican relations, with DEA officials in particular angered by what they perceive as foot-dragging by Mexican authorities in the case.

Throughout the trouble, however, Trott, who lived in Mexico with his family from 1952 to 1958, has argued against coming down too hard on the Mexicans.

In Mexico City Friday, diplomatic sources said that Mexican Atty. Gen. Sergio Garcia Ramirez favors the legal assistance treaty but that the Mexican Foreign Relations Ministry is balking. One source there said Foreign Secretary Bernardo Sepulveda is “nit-picking” at the treaty to delay presenting it to the Mexican Senate for approval. He is said to want to drop the word “mutual” from the pact.

Staff writer Dan Williams in Mexico City contributed to this story.