The Story Behind Narcos: Mexico Is Unbelievably Tragic but So Important

Enrique S. Camarena Salazar — better known as Kiki — was born in 1947 in Mexicali, Mexico, though his family moved to Calexico, CA, when he was nine. Before becoming a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, Camarena served for two years in the United States Marine Corps. After his military service, he worked as a fireman for the City of Calexico, then became a police officer for the Calexico Police Department, eventually ascending to the rank of senior police officer. Camarena also worked as a narcotics investigator for Imperial County.

Eventually he joined the DEA, and when he was assigned to the DEA's Guadalajara office in 1981, he and his family relocated from California to Mexico. Though his mother tried to talk him out of accepting the assignment, knowing the dangers, Camarena insisted, "Even if I'm only one person, I can make a difference."

Camarena spent four years in Guadalajara, gathering information about drug production in the surrounding area. In 1984, he tipped off the DEA about a 2,500-acre marijuana plantation called Rancho Búfalo, and the plantation was subsequently destroyed by the Mexican military. The drug lords managed to figure out that Camarena had provided the information about Rancho Búfalo, and though the DEA attempted to relocate Camarena, realizing his life was in danger, a few corrupt officers gave away his location to a drug kingpin named Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo.

On February 7, 1985, a month before he would be transferred to San Diego, then 37-year-old Camarena was abducted in broad daylight by five men and taken to Gallardo's ranch.

According to reports, Camarena was tortured for 30 hours at Gallardo's ranch, getting his ribs broken, his skull crushed, and even a hole drilled into his head, among other inhumane acts. A cartel doctor, Humberto Álvarez Machaín, reportedly kept Camarena conscious during the torture by implementing drugs. Camarena's body was later found on March 5, 1985, in La Angostura, 70 miles outside of Guadalajara. Gallardo and his accomplices Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero were declared the main suspects, and Machaín was arrested. A bodyguard, Javier Vásquez Velasco, was also taken into custody.

Camarena posthumously received the Administrator's Award of Honor, the highest award given by the DEA, and his memory lives on in a yearly golf tournament, as well as the nationwide Red Ribbon Week that was established in his memory that teaches youth to avoid drug use and the Enrique S. Camarena Foundation that is committed to drug and other violence prevention.