Slain DEA agent’s family suing Mexican cartel 40 years later after terror designation
By Polo Sandoval, CNN
(CNN) — When Dora Camarena was on her deathbed in 2021, her family recalls she wished to have lived long enough to see the Mexican cartel that killed her son pay for what it did.
Forty years after his killing, the widow and sons of DEA special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena are taking the Sinaloa Cartel to court – seeking financial compensation from living members of the drug trafficking organization, and counting on President Donald Trump’s designation of some cartels as terror groups.
“For decades, we have carried the pain of his loss, but also his courage,” recounts Myrna Camarena, the slain agent’s sister said in a statement. “Justice is long overdue, and we will not stop until it is served.”
In a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. Southern District of California, Geneva Camarena, her sons, and other family members, are suing former heads of the Sinaloa and Guadalajara Cartels – which according to court documents, merged in the 1970s.
The Sinaloa cartel, named after the Mexican state where it was formed, is one of the oldest and most established drug trafficking groups in Mexico. It has long supplied much of the marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl peddled on US streets, according to a 2022 Congressional Research Service report.
In the civil complaint, the Camarenas seek compensation for “substantial physical, emotional, and psychological damages inflicted” since February 7, 1985, when agent Camarena was kidnapped, tortured, and killed while working undercover in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Authorities discovered the agent’s buried body at a Mexican ranch nearly a month later.
As laid out in the lawsuit, Mexican courts later convicted cartel kingpin Rafael Caro-Quintero and cartel boss Felix Gallardo – along with other co-conspirators – for planning and directing the kidnapping of Camarena and his pilot, Alfredo Zavala-Avelar, to extract information about DEA operations in Mexico.
“It has been 40 years since these men and their deadly criminal enterprise ended my husband’s life,” shared Geneva “Mika” Camarena in a statement to CNN. “We are so grateful that President Trump designated the cartels as terrorist organizations, which finally allows my family and me to seek justice,” she added.
Caro-Quintero leads the list of three cartel defendants in the civil action. He spent nearly three decades in a Mexican prison before being released on a technicality in 2013 then subsequently recaptured in 2022 by Mexican forces.
On February 27, 2025, the 72-year-old narco, known notoriously among US law enforcement as ”RCQ,” was transported into US custody by Mexican authorities and remains detained in Brooklyn facing US charges. In a March court appearance, he pleaded not guilty to charges related to Camarena’s killing and other drug-related charges.
The recent lawsuit claims the grief of agent Camarena’s sons, Daniel, Eric, and Enrique Jr., was compounded by the nature of their father’s killing with some family members still grappling decades later.
“Today, as an adult, Erik continues to struggle. He’s unable to watch violent movies and television shows without them triggering an emotional response and the question, is this what happened to my father,” a portion of the lawsuit says.
In their complaint, the Camarena family argues they were victimized by acts of “international terrorism.” Attorneys for the family are relying on the Trump administration’s designation of the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization alleging the syndicate’s activities – including the murder of Camarena – are acts of international terrorism as defined by US statute.
The suit – which makes other claims including wrongful death – was filed by Motley Rice LLC. The law firm says it represents 9/11 families in ongoing litigation against alleged terrorist financiers.
“This family’s hope for a safer, more just world – the world Kiki Camarena fought for – has been renewed. We look forward to continuing this fight in his honor in court,” said Motley Rice anti-terrorism attorney, Michael E. Elsner.
This lawsuit could encourage other American families impacted by the drug war, to take incarcerated drug traffickers to civil court if they are suspected of having ties to cartels deemed terrorist groups.
The-CNN-Wire
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