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| Remembering Kiki Camarena |
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This shortened version of the Kiki Camarena story is often featured on Red Ribbon Week websites and other publications. It is available on the Red Ribbon Coalition website in English and Spanish for your convenience. At 2:00 pm on Thursday, February 7,1985, Enrique (Kiki) Camarena (37) stashed his DEA badge and his service revolver in his desk drawer and headed for a luncheon date with his wife, Mika (36). Kiki, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, had been in Mexico for four and one-half years on the trail of Mexico’s marijuana and cocaine barons. He was due to be reassigned in three weeks, having come dangerously close to unlocking a multi-billion dollar drug pipeline which he suspected extended into the highest reaches of the Mexican army, police and government. As he stepped through the consulate portal into the sunlight of the warm Guadalajara winter day, he moved to his pickup truck, turned off the truck’s burglar alarm with his key and unlocked the door. But he was interrupted before he could get into the cab and grab the two-way radio with which he could alert his partners. According to the DEA’s reconstruction of events, five men appeared at the agent’s side and shoved him into a beige Volkswagen Atlantic, threw a jacket over his head and sped away. That was the last time anyone but his kidnappers would see him alive. Kiki Camarena’s body was found one month later, 70 miles from Guadalajara, Mexico. He had been tortured, beaten and brutally murdered. News of the tragedy was hitting newspapers, radio station and television news broadcasts. Red Ribbon Week became a symbol to eliminate the demand for drugs. The Red Ribbon Week campaign became the annual catalyst to show intolerance for drugs in our schools, workplaces and communities. In 1988, the first National Red Ribbon Week was proclaimed by the Congress of the United States with President and Mrs. Reagan serving as honorary chairpersons. The Red Ribbon Week Pledge, "No use of illegal drugs, no illegal use of legal drugs," is one that each of us should be able to make and keep.
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