Mexican Records Attack Credibility of Camarena Case Witness : Testimony: Documents appear to contradict damaging statements made in court by a key government-paid prosecution witness.

Records uncovered in Mexico by defense lawyers in the Enrique Camarena murder trial appear to have further eroded the credibility of a key government-paid prosecution witness, Hector Cervantes Santos, who has given damaging testimony about all four defendants in the case.

The documents, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, center on statements Cervantes made about events that allegedly occurred in late 1984 and early 1985, before and after the February, 1985, kidnaping and murder of Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, in Guadalajara.

They appear to bolster statements made by two defense witnesses who contradicted Cervantes’ testimony.

Cervantes testified in May that several meetings planning Camarena’s kidnaping occurred at the country home of the man he described as his boss, drug trafficker Javier Barba Hernandez, in late 1984 and early 1985. He also testified that Barba made and received phone calls at the house just outside Guadalajara in the town of Tonala.

However, records from Telefones de Mexico, the sole telephone company in Mexico, state that there was no phone at the house. There also is a statement from a company official that telephone service did not begin in that area until March 15, 1988.

Cervantes also testified that one of the meetings planning the kidnaping took place at the house during the baptism party of Barba’s daughter, Yuremi Barba Figueroa, in September, 1984. The witness also said that two of the meetings took place during the wedding of Barba’s brother, Jorge Barba Hernandez in October, 1984.

However, authorities examined documents from the city of Guadalajara and three adjoining communities--Tonala, Tlaquepaque and Zapopan--and found no record of Jorge Barba Hernandez being married between 1984 and 1986. Documents from the same municipalities state there is no record of a daughter being born to Javier Barba Hernandez.

These records augment statements that were made by two defense witnesses last week contradicting Cervantes’ testimony. Both witnesses said they had spent considerable time at Barba’s house during the period in question and that there was no telephone there.

They also said they were unaware of any wedding or baptism being held at the house. The witnesses, both of whom are relatives of defendant Javier Vasquez Velasco, said they had not met Cervantes when they were at the house. Cervantes testified in May that he was Barba’s chief of security at the large residence.

Other records filed by lawyers for defendant Ruben Zuno Arce state that Cervantes, in contradiction to his trial testimony, was arrested three times in 1989 for being absent from his duties as a police officer.

The records also state that Cervantes, 30, was dishonorably discharged three times from his job with the Guadalajara Department of Public Safety, including firings in 1981 and 1984. He was rehired twice but was cashiered for the last time on Nov. 16, 1989, one week before he became a paid government informant in the Camarena case.

Cervantes testified in May that, at that point, he had been paid more than $36,000 by the U.S. government for information and expenses. Hector Berrellez, the Los Angeles DEA agent who heads the Camarena murder investigation, testified Tuesday that Cervantes, who has been relocated to the United States with his family, will be paid $3,000 a month until it is determined that he is no longer in danger.

Ronald A. DiNicola, one of Zuno’s defense lawyers, filed the documents with a motion seeking the permission of U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie use them as evidence. The motion states that documents are relevant to rebut Cervantes’ testimony and to show his motivation for becoming a paid government informant.

James E. Blancarte, one of Zuno’s defense lawyers, said that he and private investigators had spent considerable time in Mexico gathering the documents and having them authenticated.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Manuel Medrano, one of the prosecutors, said the government would file papers opposing the admission of the documents. Rafeedie is expected to rule on the motion shortly because the presentation of testimony in the case is nearing an end.