Drug Dealer Tells of Agents’ Threat : Courts: He claims DEA officers warned of life imprisonment if he did not testify against a defendant in the Camarena murder. He says his family was promised help if he did.

A convicted Mexican drug dealer testified Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court that Drug Enforcement Administration agents threatened to imprison him for life if he did not testify against Ruben Zuno Arce, one of the defendants accused of planning the February, 1985, kidnap and murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena.

David Macias Barajas, 31, who admitted that he has served time in U.S. penitentiaries for separate convictions on heroin and marijuana trafficking, said the threats were made at the Los Angeles federal courthouse in February.

Macias’ testimony raised questions about the tactics of DEA agents working on the case and cast doubts on the testimony given last month by a key prosecution witness, Hector Cervantes Santos.

Macias said he told DEA agents on two separate occasions in February that he would not testify against Zuno. Macias said that during the first meeting a DEA agent asked him about statements he allegedly had made about Zuno in 1988 when he was caught trafficking marijuana in Texas.

The witness recalled that the agent said to him: “When you were caught you said, ‘The marijuana belonged to my boss, Ruben Zuno.’ ” But Macias said he replied: “Who is this man (Zuno)? I don’t know him.”

Macias said Assistant U.S. Atty. Manuel Medrano attended part of the first meeting and said he had been informed that Macias had worked for Zuno. Macias said he told Medrano that whoever told him he had been Zuno’s chauffeur had been lying.

At a second February meeting, Macias said, DEA agents told him that if he testified against Zuno his wife and child would be sent to the United States, that arrangements would be made for them to stay in the country, and that they would be given other assistance. Macias said he told DEA agents that, while it was a good offer, he had no testimony to give against Zuno.

“I said I wouldn’t tell lies,” Macias recalled. Then, he said, “The agents said to me if I didn’t cooperate with them I was going to get (expletive).”

On cross-examination, Macias acknowledged that Medrano and the DEA agents had treated him “politely and professionally” in his first meeting with them. But he said the tone in the second meeting four days later had been different.

Macias said that nearly two months later, in April, he was transferred from Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles to the Terminal Island federal prison and immediately placed in an isolation cell in a minimum security wing. In late April, Hector Berrellez, who heads the DEA unit investigating the Camarena murder, and another DEA agent came to see him, Macias testified.

“They said I was passing up a lot of good opportunities and therefore I would remain for an indefinite period in prison,” Macias recalled. “I said I was telling the truth.”

Then Macias testified that Berrellez told him “he only wanted me to tell the truth.” The meeting broke off and the next day he was placed in a more-restricted isolation cell. He remained there until June 15, when he was released.

At one point, Macias broke down on the witness stand when he was talking about his incarceration.

Officials at Terminal Island could not be reached for comment. Outside the courtroom, Berrellez said he expected to take the witness stand later in the trial to talk about the DEA’s dealings with Macias.

Last month, Cervantes testified for the prosecution that Macias had been Zuno’s chauffeur in 1984 and had driven him to meetings in Guadalajara where Camarena’s kidnaping was planned. Cervantes is a self-described former security chief for Guadalajara narcotics trafficker Javier Barba Hernandez. He became a government-paid informant in November.

Cervantes also testified that he gave Macias a briefcase full of money from Barba to give to Zuno. He said Barba gave Zuno a machine gun and had Macias put it in a car for him. And he said Zuno gave Barba officials from Mexico’s federal security directorate and the Mexican Federal Judicial Police.

But Macias testified that he had never been Zuno’s chauffeur, had never driven him to a meeting in Guadalajara, was not given the money or the machine gun, did not live in Guadalajara at the time in question and had not met Zuno until this February at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Macias is the third witness in two days to raise serious questions about the credibility of Cervantes, who has given incriminating statements about all four defendants. Between November, 1989, and May 4, 1990, Cervantes received $36,140 for information and expenses from the DEA, according to government records, and he testified in May that he is receiving $3,000 monthly payments from the DEA for housing and other expenses.