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2021-

2021-05-05 f
MONEY CAN'T BUY LOVE, BUT CAN IT BUY FREEDOM? I

Drug baron who was El Chapo's right-hand man and founded feared Sinaloa cartel could be freed after Mexican judge absolves him of organised crime charges

• Hector 'El Guero' Palma Salazar, 80, will be released if no other court decides to bring charges against him for separate crimes in the next week
• He was absolved of organised crime charges by a Mexican judge on Saturday
• Held in Altiplano prison on murder charges since release from US jail in 2016
• Spent nine years in prison in California for trafficking cocaine after 1995 arrest

A top drug baron who was El Chapo's right-hand man and co-founded the feared Sinaloa cartel could be freed after a Mexican judge absolved him of organised crime charges.

Hector 'El Guero' Palma Salazar, 80, will be released if no other court decides to bring charges against him for separate crimes in the next week.

The 80-year-old drug lord has been held at Mexico's Altiplano prison since 2016, when he was released from jail in the US nearly a decade inside, transferred to Mexican authorities, and arrested.

He was charged over two 1995 murders in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit on his return but was never properly prosecuted for the alleged crimes.

Salazar was cleared of the most recent charges in a memorandum by Mexico's Second District Court of Federal Criminal Proceedings on Saturday.

Mexico's foreign ministry said it had also asked the US government to check for an outstanding extradition request for Salazar before his release.

They added that the prosecutor's offices in all 32 Mexican state are currently checking if they have any outstanding charges against Salazar, whose nickname means 'Blondie' in English.

Salazar was first arrested in Arizona in 1978 for trafficking cocaine and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

On his release, Palma returned to Mexico and started working for the fear Sinaloa drug cartel alongside Joaquin Guzman Loera - 'El Chapo'.

Salazar was a top associate of Guzman, the Sinaloa kingpin who gained international attention when he famously escaped from Altiplano prison in 2015 and later met with actor Sean Penn while he was on the run.

Guzman escaped his prison cell through a well-constructed, mile-long tunnel that led from his shower block to a house, sparking a massive manhunt that ended with his arrest in the northern state of Sinaloa in January 2015.

Under the pair's leadership, the Sinaloa cartel became the most powerful in Mexico.

The United States Attorney General's office estimates that the cartel trafficked 200 Tons (400,000lbs) of cocaine into the US between 1990-2008.

Salazar was arrested for the second time by Mexican authorities in June 1995 after his private jet crashed while en route to a wedding. It was claimed he initially evaded authorities by dressing in a police uniform, but was eventually taken into custody.

He was extradited to the US in 2007, pleaded guilty to transporting 50kg (110lbs) of cocaine and was sentenced to 16 years in Atwater high-security federal prison in California.

He was cleared of nine counts of murder, plus charges of kidnapping and robbery.

The embassy said he was returned to Mexico yesterday after serving nine years because of good behavior and the five years he spent in a Mexican prison while waiting for extradition, which counted as time served.

According to Mexican media, Salazar's wife was murdered by rivals who sent him her severed head inside a box. His two young children were also killed by being thrown off a bridge in Venezuela.

He reportedly spent more than $400,000 to build an elaborate tomb for his late wife. (read more)

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