Camarena Case Deal Denied by Official

Mexico’s attorney general Monday categorically denied allegations by U.S. attorneys that he approved an “under the table” agreement to hand over a Guadalajara doctor to American officials for trial in the 1985 murder of drug agent Enrique Camarena.

In a written statement, Atty. Gen. Enrique Alvarez del Castillo said it is “absolutely false” that he authorized a swap of Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain for a Mexican fugitive in the United States, as federal prosecutors have charged.

In Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie set a hearing for Friday on a defense contention that charges against the doctor should be dismissed because of “outrageous (U.S.) government conduct.”

The judge directed prosecutors to produce at the hearing anyone who knows anything about the doctor’s arrest. Rafeedie said he wants to know how high up knowledge of the Alvarez case went in the government.

Assistant U.S. Atty. William Fahey said he assumes that knowledge of the operation went to “fairly high levels” within the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles filed a legal brief and affidavits in U.S. District Court last Friday alleging that representatives of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police, which answers to the attorney general, asked that “the arrangement be ‘under the table’ between governments” so as not to “upset” Mexican citizens.

According to the brief, the doctor had previously been detained in Mexico, but the deal fell through when DEA officials refused to pay a $50,000 advance to federal police who promised to bring him to the United States. Informants later advised the DEA that the doctor “had paid a bribe” to Mexican police to be released, the brief states.

It adds that after the deal fell apart, Los Angeles-based DEA operative Antonio Garate Bustamante arranged the April 2 abduction of Alvarez through contacts in Mexico. Garate, a former Mexican policeman who has admitted working for drug traffickers at one point, was promised “a $50,000 reward” plus expenses.

Garate has said that the original swap plan was arranged by Federal Judicial Police Cmdr. Pablo Alleman and Jorge Castillo del Rey, a former commander of the same agency.

“The supposed authorization (by Alvarez del Castillo) is absolutely false,” the attorney general said. “Mr. Castillo del Rey was retired from the Federal Judicial Police July 1, 1989, and never had any contact with the attorney general of the republic.”

Castillo del Rey has been arrested in connection with the doctor’s kidnaping. Officials deny Alleman was involved in any negotiations.

Camarena was kidnaped outside the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara in February, 1985, tortured and killed.

The DEA had sought Alvarez, a gynecologist, for his alleged role in reviving Camarena during torture sessions and questioning about his knowledge of official corruption and involvement in drug trafficking.

“In December, 1989, Garate was contacted telephonically by (MFJP) Commandante Jorge Castillo del Rey, who sought to meet with Garate and representatives of the DEA in Los Angeles,” the legal brief states.

At the Dec. 13 meeting, the account continues, “Castillo del Rey advised that he was present in the United States with the full knowledge and authority of the attorney general of Mexico.”

Mexican officials were willing to give up Alvarez in order to get their hands on a Mexican fugitive, a banker believed hiding in California “because he was alleged to have stolen approximately $500 million from various politicians in Mexico,” the brief states.

The DEA reportedly agreed to find the fugitive and deport him as an illegal alien.

Garate continued negotiations by phone with Javier Orosco-Orosco, the chief of the MFJP fugitive detail in Mexico City. But he demanded “$50,000 in advance for an airplane and other expenses to transport Alvarez-Machain to the United States,” according to the prosecution account.

Alvarez’s lawyer, Robert K. Steinberg, said he has subpoenaed U.S. Atty. Gen. Richard Thornburgh and DEA Director Terrence Burke to testify about his client’s arrest. But, he indicated that he and the prosecutor probably will agree to introduce written declarations by the two high-ranking officials at Friday’s hearing.

Four other Camarena defendants are on trial in Los Angeles federal court.

Times staff writer John Kendall in Los Angeles contributed to this story.