Camarena Aftermath: Pyrrhic Victory?

It was doubtless a deeply satisfying victory for the U.S. Justice Department. The complex and controversial trial that grew out of the brutal murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena five years ago ended in the conviction of four foreign drug traffickers. But it could prove a verdict most Pyrrhic--one that could needlessly hurt relations with Mexico if it is not handled with great tact.

Of special concern is the conviction of Ruben Zuno Arce, a wealthy Mexican businessman who helped the drug traffickers who kidnaped Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent based in Guadalajara, and tortured him to death. Unlike several other suspects who have been convicted in U.S. and Mexican courts in the Camarena case, Zuno Arce is not just another thug. He is related to the family of former Mexican President Luis Echeverria Alvarez and very much a member of Mexico’s political Establishment.

U.S. drug agents have long suspected that major narcotics traffickers could not operate in Mexico without at least the passive cooperation of influential Mexicans, but Zuno Arce’s conviction marks one of the few times this widely shared suspicion has been proved in court. And because Camarena’s murder was the most egregious example of how this corrupt alliance can work, it took on a symbolism far beyond the normal drugs-and-murder investigation; it was routinely discussed at the presidential level in both Mexico City and Washington.

And the manner in which Camarena was methodically interrogated and tortured to death led other drug agents to pursue the case with near-religious zeal. On more than one occasion, they pressed the law to the limit to track down suspects and bring them before U.S. courts. Indeed Zuno Arce may yet go free if an appeals court rules that federal agents went too far in trying to get him convicted.

For now, Bush Administration officials must not let their satisfaction over this moral, as well as legal, victory blind them to the many other important issues on the U.S.-Mexican agenda--not least of which is the need for greater cooperation in the continuing war against drug traffickers. Current Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari has done more than any of his predecessors to help stem the flow of drugs through Mexico from Colombia and other producing countries. He has also begun to crack down on corruption within Mexico’s legal system. What purpose would it serve to rub official Mexico’s noses in the verdict?

The better tribute to “Kiki” Camarena--and the many other U.S. and Mexican policemen who have died in the drug war--would be to work harder, and more cooperatively, to defeat the brutal criminal organizations who plotted their deaths.