DOCUMENTS FROM U.S., MEXICAN, AND PRIVATE ARCHIVES
In the course of researching the Mexican drug trade I have visited dozens of archives and private collections. I thought it might be interesting to share some of the documents I found with readers.
Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, 1938
In 1938 revolutionary medical doctor, Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, was placed in charge of drug policy in Mexico. He started by trying to upend Mexican attitudes to marijuana. He followed this up by attempting to introduce state-regulated morphine clinics. The FBN, under Harry Anslinger, was terrified and kept a close watch on his activities.
Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, 1938
U.S. FBN agents were delighted when some Mexican journalists turned on Salazar and accused him of promoting drug use in Mexico.
Opium poppy growing, Mexico, 1944
By 1944 Mexican farmers were growing opium poppies throughout the mountainous areas of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango. The region became known as the Golden Triangle. U.S. Customs agents started to accompany Mexican health inspectors and soldiers into the mountains to eradicate the crop.
Lecumberri jail drug ring, 1948
The Lecumberri jail in Mexico City was the center of the heroin and morphine trades in Mexico since the 1920s. This letter, sent to journalists and officials, by prisoners in 1948 outlined the drug trade in the prison and the official protection.
Macario Gaxiola Jr. 1954
In 1954 LA police arrested the wife of Macario Gaxiola Jr.. In the US Macario went under the name MacGordon Lascot. Yet, in fact, he was son of the former governor of Sinaloa, Macario Gaxiola. It seems that despite substantial evidence, the accusations were quietly buried.
The French Connection in Mexico, 1954
In no way coincidently, in 1954 the Mexican government also took down the first iteration of the French Connection in Mexico.
DFS file on drug trafficking in Jiménez, Coahuila, 1972
In the early 1970s the Mexican secret service (DFS) took an increasing interest in drug trafficking. Here is a detailed report on the flourishing smuggling business in Jiménez, Coahuila.
Oscar Venegas Tarín statement December 1972
In 1972 Oscar Venegas Tarín, the mayor of the border town of Guadalupe, Chihuahua appraoched the DFS. It was a last resort. In an effort to clean up his town he had stumbled onto a drug trafficking conspiracy that included the Chihuahua state police, the governor of Chihuahua and the state prosecutor’s office. He was now desperate and on the run. His salvation was short-lived. Four years later the governor of Chihuahua became Attorney General. He immediately put Venegas on the most wanted list and had him killed.
DFS file on Oscar Flores Sánchez, c. 1976
Oscar Flores Sánchez was an important Mexican politician from the 1940s through to the 1970s. He served as governor of Chihuahua and as Attorney General. In both positions, he protected certain favored drug traffickers. This secret service report outlined his involvement in the narcotics trade.
Second half of DFS file on Oscar Flores Sánchez
Including information of Raúl Mendiolea, the head of the PJF under Oscar Flores Sánchez
Craig Pyes, War of the Flowers, 1977
Craig Pyes was a U.S. freelance journalist working in Mexico in the 1970s. He was one of the only foreign journalists who attempted to get to the bottom of the joint U.S.-Mexican drug eradication campaign, Operation Condor. His first reports, like those of most journalists, were shaped by government propaganda and fairly positive about the campaign.
Craig Pyes, Legal Murders, 1979
However, his follow up pieces like the extraordinary “Legal Murders” published in the Village Voice two years later painted a very different picture of corruption, torture, press repression and state sanctioned murder.
Arthur Martinez, major LA heroin dealer, c. 1974
Arthur Martinez was an LA heroin dealer. His links to major Mexican heroin traffickers like Jorge Favela Escobosa allowed him to build an impressive enterprise during the early 1970s.
Arizona Republic, 22 July 1979
In 1979 somebody (probably in the DEA) leaked extensive information on the Mexican trade to the Arizona Republic. It was the first mention of soon-to-be Guadalajara cartel kingpin, Miguel Angel Félix Gallardo.
Arizona IRE report on Nogales 11/1976
In 1976 over 30 reporters from major U.S. newspapers started to investigate the mafia’s hold over Arizona. The project was in remembrance of their fellow journalist, Don Bolles, who lost his life to a mafia car bomb. They did a lot of work in the border region, where they traced how marijuana and heroin was smuggled from Mexico to the United States.
Arizona IRE report on Alfred Gay.
The journalists also investigated corruption and drug trafficking on the U.S. side. Here they use DEA contacts to look into the affairs of Alfred Gay, who owned the border town of Lukeville.
Der Spiegel, April 1977, article on Sicilia Falcón
The DEA was a master of the cleverly leaked piece of drug semi-fiction. This piece on Sicilia Falcón, published in German newspaper Der Spiegel, justified ongoing and very violent counter-narcotics measures by linking the trade to left-wing guerrillas.
Galley proofs of Dan Rosen article on Mexican trade, Penthouse, April 1977
Another article on the Mexican drug trade, again based on deliberate DEA leaks. Again the piece stressed the need for a foreign, military solution to America’s drug problem.
I found the piece in the Arizona IRE files.
DEA file on Amado Carrillo Fuentes
The classified file, given to me by a DEA agent, covers the Amado Carrillo Fuentes organization, its structure, its official protection and the role of former cops like Daniel Acuña Figueroa.
DEA Operation Columbus, c. 1986
Operation Columbus was the first post-Camarena DEA mission. It targeted a wide range of Mexico’s principal drug traffickers.
Arturo “el Negro” Durazo’s FBI file I
The FBI compiled a long file on Arturo “el Negro” Durazo and his links to US cops. This was FOIA-ed by Virginia Cowell, the daughter of the FBI agent who eventually tracked down el Negro.
Arturo “el Negro” Durazo’s FBI file II
The FBI file also discovered a supposed plot devised by el Negro Durazo to assassinate Mexican President, Miguel de la Madrid. It seems that this plot - however hair-brained - probably pushed the Americans and Mexicans to chase down el Negro.
Jack Compton - Witness at El Paso Grand Jury Investigation (I)
In 1975 there was a grand jury investigation into BNDD and DEA practices on and south of the border. Jack Compton, a former BNDD official, was the star witness. The picture that he offered was damning. American agents were involved in torture, theft, and even attempted murder.
I want to note this document was given to me by Douglas Valentine whose books on the FBN and the BNDD are outstanding
Jack Compton - Witness at El Paso Grand Jury Investigation (II)
The second part of Compton’s testimony. Including allegations of Arizona’s favorite sheriff (and former BNDD agent) Joe Arpaio tampering with evidence, covering up attempted murder and presiding over a department where torture was rife.
Operation Condor: The Atrocities
In 1978 the Mexican government threw a Culiacán human rights lawyer in jail with nearly 500 drug prisoners. What he found was truly shocking. Prisoners were regularly robbed, stripped and tortured in brutal ways for their confessions. Waterboarding, rape, and beatings were common. Most prisoners were traumatised, many had broken bones, and some had suffered miscarriages and even death. From AGN, DFS, VP, Colego de Abogados Eustaquio Buelna.
Operation Padrino
In the early 1980s the DEA started to go after the drug cartels’ money. They captured millions of dollars, including some belonging to the “Guadalajara cartel”. Some argue that Kiki Camarena was killed for his part in the operation.
EPIC, Talking Points on Mexico
EPIC was the El Paso Intelligence Center. It was set up in the 1970s to bring together intel from all U.S. agencies on the Latin American and particularly Mexican drug trade. Here is their intel assessment on Mexico from 1989. .
El Chapo trial files (I)
Transcript of conversations between El Chapo and Lucero Sánchez López
El Chapo trial files (II)
Fascinating FBI reading of El Chapo’s coded accounts ledger.