Camarena Case Witness Tells of Police Official High on Cocaine

A ranking Mexican police official “got loaded” on cocaine while he attended parties at the home of a Guadalajara narcotics cartel leader, a prosecution witness testified Friday during the federal trial of four men accused of murdering U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena.

The government witness, Hector Cervantes Santos, said that Federico Castel del Oro, a first commander with Mexico’s federal security directorate, used cocaine at the Guadalajara home of Javier Barba Hernandez, an attorney who was a leader of the drug cartel.

Cervantes, 30, who served as security chief at Barba’s sprawling “La Quinta” estate from 1982 to 1985, made the statement during his third day on the witness stand under cross-examination by four defense lawyers.

The testimony appeared to heap more embarrassment on Mexican police officials, who have seen some of their top ranks identified during the trial as cooperating with drug traffickers. Four law enforcement officials are among the 19 defendants who have been indicted for involvement in Camarena’s February, 1985, murder in Guadalajara.

Castel del Oro has not been charged in the Camarena murder. He left his post several years ago, according to U.S. government sources, and his current position is unknown.

During cross examination, Cervantes said Friday that cartel members and friends attending parties and meetings at Barba’s home frequently used so much cocaine that they had to be revived by doctors who were also in attendance.

Cervantes also testified that during one of the 1984 meetings where Camarena’s kidnaping was discussed, Miguel Aldana Ibarra, a commander with Mexico’s Federal Judicial Police, said that the group needed information about how Camarena had learned about a large marijuana operation in Zacatecas that was raided in May, 1984.

Aldana, who led the raid, has been indicted in the Camarena murder here. He was arrested in Mexico earlier this year on other charges, shortly after his Los Angeles indictment.

During the raid, about 20 tons of processed marijuana were seized, along with 150 acres of marijuana fields and enough marijuana seeds to plant about 6,500 acres, according to “Desperadoes,” a book on the Camarena murder by author Elaine Shannon.

The raid could have been even more successful had the operators not been tipped off by corrupt officials in Mexico’s Federal Judicial Police, according to U.S Drug Enforcement Administration officials. Although 177 people were arrested, the key suspects were able to flee before the raiding party arrived.

During the raid, Camarena--who had shown up as an observer--was spotted by an aide to drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero. Some U.S. officials believe that Camarena’s presence at the raid convinced Mexican drug traffickers that he was a threat and led to the plot against him.

In several less exotic exchanges Friday, Cervantes appeared to be caught in significant contradictions.

Cervantes said that he had never been shown any photographs of people involved in the case by DEA officials. But defense lawyer Martin R. Stolar held up a DEA report which showed that Cervantes indeed had been shown photographs.

Cervantes also said that the bodies of two people allegedly killed by cartel members a week before Camarena was abducted had been buried near a house in Guadalajara owned by defendant Ruben Zuno Arce. But one of Zuno’s lawyers said that his client did not own a house in the area.

Cervantes--who has been paid more than $36,000 by the U.S. government since he agreed to become a witness--acknowledged that he was pleased to be in the United States and said that he could be killed if he returned to Mexico.

Barba, was shot to death by Mexican federal judicial police in November, 1986.