Héctor Luis Palma Salazar
Héctor Luis Palma Salazar | |
---|---|
Mocorito, Sinaloa, Mexico | |
Other names | El Güero (the light-skinned) |
Occupation | Drug lord |
Employer | Sinaloa Cartel |
Spouse | Guadalupe Leija Serrano |
Children | 2 |
Notes | |
First arrest: 1978 in USA Second arrest: June 23, 1995, in Mexico |
Héctor Luis Palma Salazar (born April 29, 1960), commonly known as "El Güero Palma", is a Mexican former
Early life and career
Jesús Héctor Luis Palma Salazar was born in Noria de Abajo,
Following the loss of a large cocaine shipment which was blamed on El Chapo and Palma, in 1988 El Lobito Retamoza was killed but Palma spared. Following El Lobito's death, Palma contacted and created an alliance with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García of the Sinaloa Cartel.[6]
Palma splintered from the group, which was handed down to Felix Gallardo's nephews in Tijuana, who later formed the Tijuana Cartel (also known as the Arellano Félix Organization).[7] Palma, along with a Venezuelan trafficker named Rafael Enrique Clavel, the one-time boyfriend of Palma's sister Minerva Palma, began operating their own cartel.
First arrest and family's murder
In 1978, Palma was arrested in Arizona for drug trafficking and sentenced to eight years in a U.S. prison. Upon his release, he discovered his wife, Guadalupe Leija Serrano, had run off with Clavel and taken her and Palma's two children.
Clavel forced Guadalupe to withdraw US$7 million from a bank account and later decapitated her and shipped her head back to Palma. The two young children, Jesús (aged 5) and Nataly (aged 4), were taken to Venezuela and thrown off a bridge named 'Puente de la Concordia', located in the city of San Cristóbal, Táchira, about 40 kms from the border with Colombia.
Soon afterward, Clavel began working for the Tijuana Cartel. In retaliation, Palma executed Gallardo's lawyer and Clavel's three children. Clavel would later be arrested and soon be murdered in jail by an inmate on Palma's orders.[2]
Palma returned to trafficking, this time within the Sinaloa Cartel, sharing leadership with Ismael Zambada García (El Mayo) and Joaquin Guzmán Loera (El Chapo).[8]
Second arrest
Palma was arrested on June 23, 1995, after a 12-seat
After serving nineteen years in the Atwater Federal Prison,[10] Palma was extradited back to Mexico in June 2016, where he was charged with a double murder of police officers in 1995, in Nayarit.[11][12] He is currently incarcerated at the Altiplano Prison, near Mexico City.
Kingpin Act sanction
On 2 June 2003, the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Palma under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (sometimes referred to simply as the Kingpin Act) for his involvement in drug trafficking, along with six other international criminals and three entities.[13] The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.[14]
Corruption
Palma had managed to insert himself into the depths of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police (PJF), evading detection by posing as one in complete uniform, with identification, and traveling in a heavily armed caravan of PJF officers. It was later discovered he was able to evade capture by staying at the home of the local police commander.[9]
The corruption within the police force has been documented to have spread to the judicial system. By bribing judges, the Sinaloa Cartel has repeatedly evaded prosecution. In 2004, 18 men were arrested in possession of 28
In popular culture
In Narcos: Mexico seasons 1–3, Palma is played by Gorka Lasaosa.
A character based on Palma was featured in the 2017 television series El Chapo.
See also
- Merida Initiative
- Mexican Drug War
- War on Drugs
References
- ISBN 978-1-56898-706-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-415-92647-5.
- ^ Ramírez Yáñez, Jaime (13 February 2007). "El Güero Palma y 50 kilos de cocaína". Milenio (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
- ^ "Kingpin Act designations". United States Department of the Treasury. 2003.
- ISBN 0-316-65095-1.
- ^ Ciro Perez Silva & NISAT (October 10, 1994). "Article Profiles Activities of Sinaloa Cartel". The Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers (NISAT).
- ISBN 0-8157-1027-5.
- ^ "The Sinaloa Cartel". Borderland Beat. August 30, 2010. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
- ^ ISBN 0-8229-5758-2.
- ^ Stevenson, Mark (September 22, 2016). "Hector Palma, freed from California prison, goes straight to Mexican lockup". Mercury News.
- ^ "PGR colaboró con Fiscalía de Nayarit en investigación contra 'El Güero' Palma". Excelsior (in Spanish). June 16, 2016.
- ^ "'El Güero' Palma arrives in Matamoros, Tamaulipas". El Universal. 15 June 2016.
- ^ "DESIGNATIONS PURSUANT TO THE FOREIGN NARCOTICS KINGPIN DESIGNATION ACT" (PDF). United States Department of the Treasury. 15 May 2014. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
- ^ "An overview of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act" (PDF). United States Department of the Treasury. 2009. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-521-70070-2.