Thursday, June 4, 2009

Liberation?

Two of the foundational figures in Mexican drug trafficking, Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca, could be released from prison within six years, thanks to a judge's ruling yesterday. Caro Quintero and Fonseca, who were convicted of killing DEA agent Enrique Camarena, were arrested and sentenced to 199 and 150 years in prison, respectively, in 1985. A judge yesterday lowered those sentences to 40 years, saying that such was the maximum allowed at the time. After serving 30 years, which is to say in 2015, they will be eligible for parole.

However, both men are in their 70s, and given the lingering US interest in the Camarena murder, it seems doubtful that either will ever be a free man.

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