U.S. Intelligence Agency Finally Releases Dispatch on Mexico Cardinal Assassination at Airport

Houston Chronicle ^ | Friday, December 14, 2012

[nickcarraway]

Nearly four years after a Freedom of Information Request was submitted to the federal government, the Defense

Intelligence Agency released a highly redacted cable on the 1993 murder of a Mexican archbishop said to be mistaken for drug baron Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera. Others argue it was an assassination and no accident.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera The cable is definitely a blast to the past, as it talks about the rise of Guzman’s rise and mentions other traffickers, such as Juan Garcia Abrego and Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who were big deals a generation ago.

Of course, Garcia Abrego is serving life in a U.S. super-max federal prison and Carrillo Fuentes died long ago from complications related to plastic surgery to hide his identity.

And so, at a minimum, the cable serves today as a reminder that Guzman Loera’s run has been incredibly long and he’s outlasted many, many players. (insert conspiracy theories here. if you must)

Anyway, the cable notes that back in 1993, the thinking of the DIA was that the Mexican cardinal, Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo had indeed been assassinated by accident in a botched attempt by Guzman’s rivals to kill him.

Archbishop of Guadalajara, Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, shown in this June 1991 photo, was killed outside the international airport in Guadalajara in May 1993. (AP) At the time it was sent, the cable was shared with the FBI, CIA and Drug Enforcement Administration.

I’m including all of the cable for anyone out there who wants to read it, perhaps even share some thoughts on what it means or what it reveals.

[Steely Tom]

Many of the attackers were from the Logan Heights neighborhood of San Diego. They had been recruited and trained as assassins by the leaders of the “Tijuana Cartel.”