One of Mexico’s most infamous drug lords is seeking to be released from prison to home confinement due to multiple health/age related issues.
Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo (“Don Neto”) was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role on the 1986 kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique Camarena, who was assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara.
Now 86, he has spent the past 31 years behind bars but suffers from a range of health complaints, including a tumor in the intestine.
Relatives of Fonseca Carrillo say the maximum security prison where he is being held cannot cater to his medical needs.
A judge first approved Fonseca Carrillo for home detention back in January 2015 but the decision to release him has been suspended on three occasions since then.
Fonseca Carrillo formed the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s along with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Rafael Caro Quintero, who was released in August 2013 after serving 28 years of a 40-year sentence, much to the displeasure of U.S. authorities.
Fonseca Carrillo, Felix Gallardo and Caro Quintero were all accused of involvement in the disappearance and murder of Camarena who, while working as an undercover DEA agent, led authorities to a ranch in Chihuahua where more than 10,000 tons of marijuana – totaling US$160 million – were discovered.