The faint sound of Latin rap music played in the conference room. Amid the shaky footage, a bloodstained wooden table appeared, with a rusted hatchet resting on it. The camera operator picked up the hatchet, then turned the camera toward himself, revealing a tattoo-covered face.
"People of Mexico, remember this: only Andrés Doza can protect you from foreign invaders."
The camera then shifted to a white man kneeling on the ground. In the next moment, the hatchet came down, severing half of the man's hand.
"Ahhh!" A piercing scream echoed through the small conference room. Everyone's expressions darkened. Even Sonny Quinn, who always carried a carefree grin while chewing on a toothpick, had his mocking smile wiped off his face.
The footage continued to shake, and the brutal torture went on. After five minutes, many in the room couldn't bear to watch any longer and lowered their heads. Sensing that it had made its intended impact, Jack turned off the video.
"This is just a portion of the full video. It runs for thirty minutes," Jack said, returning to his seat without further comment.
The atmosphere in the conference room felt stifling. Anyone with even a shred of humanity couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow and a sense of shared vulnerability after witnessing such cruelty.
The victim, after all, was a DEA agent. Everyone in the room was American, and the scene inevitably brought to mind the infamous Camarena incident of the 1980s—a tragedy that still haunted the collective consciousness of the nation.
Camarena wasn't a place but a name, and his ordeal remained a thorn in the heart of every American who valued justice.
The story began in 1974 when the DEA was still in its infancy. Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, a Mexican-American Marine Corps veteran, volunteered to join the newly-formed agency. Having grown up in Mexico, Camarena had seen firsthand the devastation wrought by drugs. Once he joined the DEA, he dedicated himself to frontline efforts in the war on drugs.
Camarena excelled in his work but quickly realized that tackling drug trafficking within the United States alone was a superficial solution. He believed that unless the source of the drugs was eradicated, new traffickers would emerge endlessly, like a game of whack-a-mole.
In 1980, Camarena applied for a transfer to the DEA office in Guadalajara, Mexico.
At the time, Mexico's drug cartels were transitioning from traditional, socially-rooted farming operations into modern criminal empires employing military tactics, economists, and lawyers to expand and protect their networks.
Guadalajara was the largest drug trafficking hub in Mexico, effectively serving as the Jerusalem of the drug kingdom. The Guadalajara Cartel, at its peak, had even co-opted the Mexican president, who acted as their protector.
Against this backdrop, Camarena managed to tear a hole in their seemingly impenetrable defenses with sheer determination.
In the early 1980s, the "actor president" Ronald Reagan had just succeeded Jimmy Carter, and the U.S. launched a fierce anti-drug campaign. Over four years, Camarena compiled detailed evidence, including photographs, trafficking routes, and transaction methods.
Under mounting pressure from the U.S., the Mexican government was forced to act. Four hundred soldiers descended on the infamous Buffalo Ranch, which had an annual production value of up to $8 billion, and destroyed over a thousand hectares of marijuana fields.
Soon after, a drug-smuggling plane from Guadalajara to Arizona was intercepted, and 0.7 tons of cocaine were seized. The Guadalajara Cartel was forced to compensate Colombian suppliers over $10 million for the lost shipment.
Cutting off a cartel's profits is akin to killing its soul. Enraged, the Guadalajara Cartel, which at the time had CIA connections and felt untouchable, began targeting Americans in Mexico without restraint.
Within a month, seven Americans were kidnapped, brutally tortured, and killed. Amid this chaos, certain figures within the CIA, also hurt by the losses, took action.
Rumors emerged that someone within the CIA betrayed Camarena, revealing his identity to the cartel. Some even speculated that a CIA operative personally orchestrated his abduction from the U.S. consulate.
What followed was 36 hours of unimaginable torture. A private doctor named Humberto participated throughout, administering high doses of amphetamines to keep Camarena conscious.
A month later, Camarena's mutilated body was discovered by a highway in Michoacán. His lower body had been entirely flayed, his teeth removed, and his skull deformed. Almost all his bones, including his ribs, were fractured. His cause of death was a steel spike driven into his skull, a process done slowly while he was still alive, as evidenced by the high levels of amphetamines in his system.
At the time, the CIA's involvement in the betrayal remained hidden. However, when Camarena's autopsy report was leaked to the media, it caused an international uproar.
Embarrassed, President Reagan pressured the CIA to cooperate. The agency handed over recordings of Camarena's torture, which became key evidence in convicting the Guadalajara Cartel leaders.
The U.S. government issued an ultimatum to Mexico, demanding that all involved parties be prosecuted. Mexico complied, arresting three cartel leaders—Rafael Caro Quintero, Ernesto Fonseca, and Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo.
But under the cartel's financial influence, the Mexican government resisted U.S. pressure. The drug lords received long prison sentences but were gradually released over the next decade. The Guadalajara Cartel collapsed, giving rise to Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán—a story for another time.
Amid this grim history lay many secrets, some well-known and others still hidden: the CIA's dubious role, Mexico's blatant protection of drug lords, and corruption within the DEA itself.
Jack, reflecting on the video he had just shown, understood the gravity of the current mission.
If the video were to leak to the media, it would inevitably reopen old wounds for the American public and spark outrage. Both major political parties in the U.S., regardless of affiliation, wished to avoid such fallout. Neither side was free from guilt regarding the drug war, and this incident was a ticking time bomb.
Thus, immediate retaliation was essential. Whether Andrés Doza was captured alive or killed outright, the operation had to succeed to silence public outrage.
However, cooperation between the CIA and DEA was tenuous. Their mutual distrust ran deep, exacerbated by this incident. High-ranking officials, impressed by the results of Jack's previous joint operation, decided to involve him again.
The military also had concerns. Their condition for participation was a three-month "adaptation" period to ensure operational cohesion. Their main fear was the CIA pulling a stunt and leaving the military to take the blame.
As Colonel Harrington concluded in the meeting, breaking the somber mood:
"No one treats an American like this. Go to Mexico, find Doza, cuff him, or bring him back in a coffin. Understood?"
------------------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get early access to chapters by joining my Patre@n!
Find me at: patre@n*com/Mutter
You can read each novel for $5 or get them all for just $15.
Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 256)
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 336)
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]