U.S. Arrests Reputed Latin Drug Kingpin

Alleged international drug kingpin Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros was arrested Tuesday in his native Honduras and flown to the Dominican Republic, which then expelled him into the hands of waiting American deputies, the U.S. Marshals Service announced Tuesday night.

Matta was en route to a federal prison, the service noted, despite a clause in the constitution of Honduras prohibiting extradition of its citizens. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa refused to say if American agents were involved in the arrest of Matta but added, as the 43-year-old Honduran was on his way out of the country: “We are pursuing all legal means to bring him to justice in the United States.”

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have accused Matta of taking part in the killing of agent Enrique S. Camarena in Mexico three years ago and have sought to link the Honduran to Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega, who also faces U.S. drug trafficking charges .

The Marshals Service, calling Matta “one of the world’s most notorious cocaine traffickers,” said he was arrested aboard a U.S.-bound plane after his expulsion from the Dominican Republic. A spokesman for the service had no information on how Matta was taken from Honduras to the Dominican Republic. It did not disclose to which prison he was being taken.

Marshals Service Director Stanley E. Morris said the action “reflects a strong commitment on the part of responsible government officials in Latin America to the war on drugs.” The service said its jurisdiction over Matta was based on a warrant for his escape from Eglin Federal Prison Camp in Florida in 1971. It then detailed five other narcotics-related charges against him.

The arrest was made one day after the Matta case came up at a hearing by a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee, chaired by John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), on Latin American drug traffic. Kerry questioned the anti-drug performance of Honduras, noting that Matta was living in luxury and without impediment there despite multiple U.S. charges against him.

Honduras is a close ally of the Reagan Administration in its support of the Nicaraguan Contras. A U.S. official said Tuesday night that Matta’s arrest followed about a year of negotiations with Honduras.

“The key thing is that the Hondurans really came through,” the official said. “They took this action.” The official said the arrest also demonstrates that high levels of the Honduran government cannot be corrupted by alleged drug dealers such as Matta.

Honduran military officers have come under suspicion of complicity in drug smuggling operations between Colombia and the United States, with DEA officials characterizing the country as a way station between the supplier and consumer nations.

Matta reportedly maintained close ties with high-ranking Honduran military officers. A Honduran source familiar with drug investigations said that some military officers there are worried that Matta would implicate several of them in massive drug dealing once he is interrogated by U.S. officials.

Matta is accused of being one of the most important connections between Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel and Mexican smugglers who transport drugs into the United States.

Matta returned to Honduras in 1986 after escaping from a Colombian prison, where he was being held in the murder of 13 Colombians as well as on a charge stemming from the killing of Camarena. It was widely assumed at the time that he sought the protection afforded by the Honduran constitutional prohibition on extradition.

The U.S. Marshals Service said “that protection disappeared . . . when he (Matta) arrived in the Dominican Republic and became subject to its laws.”

Morris said that “following the arrest and extradition by DEA a year ago of (Colombian) Carlos Lehder Rivas, Matta had become the second overlord of the Medellin drug cartel brought back to U.S. justice.”

U.S. officials have been quoted in published accounts as saying they had evidence that Matta had dealt in drug-running with Noriega as long as 10 years ago.

Matta has denied all the charges against him and insisted he is a legitimate businessman.

Honduras, located about half way between Colombia and the United States, has hundreds of miles of remote coastline and hundreds of small airstrips that are ideal for drug smuggling.

Last November, in the largest single U.S. drug seizure, federal agents confiscated more than 8,000 pounds of cocaine that had been packed in hollow furniture at a Honduran factory.

In an interview in February, Matta charged that U.S. agents had tried four times to “kidnap” him since December 1986. A U.S. official said in February that on one occasion U.S. marshals had tried to arrest Matta in Honduras.

Matta’s Honduran lawyer, Carlos Lorenzano, said no criminal charges were pending against Matta in Honduras and he knew no basis for the arrest.