Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, a fugitive from justice since 2013, said in an interview with Proceso magazine that he did not kill U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena in 1985 and denied that he was trying to grab control of the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Caro Quintero, considered one of Mexico’s most powerful drug traffickers in the 1980s, disappeared after being released from a penitentiary in the western state of Jalisco in the early hours of Aug. 9, 2013.

“I didn’t kidnap him, didn’t torture him and didn’t kill him,” the founder of the Guadalajara drug cartel said, referring to the DEA agent.

Caro Quintero, who was serving time for the murders of Camarena and pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar, was released from prison when a judge threw out the charges against him.

The drug lord said only that he was “in the wrong place” when the DEA agent was killed. He escaped to Costa Rica shortly after Camarena was murdered. Caro Quintero was here from March 17 to April 5 in 1985, but he had previously visited Costa Rica and purchased real estate.

When Caro Quintero was arrested in Costa Rica, the search and arrest warrant issued was for a kidnapping complaint; the judge was not aware that the DEA and the U.S. Embassy were behind it.

After spending nearly three decades in prison, Caro Quintero said he only wanted to find peace and sought the “forgiveness of Mexican society,” the Camarena family and the U.S. government for any role he may have played in the case.

Caro Quintero told Proceso that he did not have problems with any drug trafficking organizations and that Sinaloa cartel leaders Ismael “Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, who is currently in prison awaiting extradition to the United States, visited him after he was released three years ago.

The drug lord said he had known Guzman since he was a boy and respected him, adding that he told the Sinaloa cartel bosses that he did not “want to know anything about illegal matters.”

Jorge Gonzalez, attorney general of the northern state of Chihuahua, said in early July that intelligence reports showed that one of the organizations run by Caro Quintero had “clashes” in the northwestern state of Sinaloa with Guzman’s cartel.

The Chihuahua AG was referring to the violence in June around the town of Badiraguato, where dozens of residents, including Guzman’s mother, fled the fighting between rival cartels that left several civilians dead.

An arrest warrant was issued for Caro Quintero a few days after his release from prison so he could be extradited to the United States.

The U.S. government is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of Caro Quintero, a native of Sinaloa.

Caro Quintero is wanted by a court in California and considered a fugitive from justice.

On Nov. 6, 2013, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling that voided Caro Quintero’s murder conviction and led to his release after 28 years in prison. EFE

Mexico City, Jul 25 (EFE)