Mexico to Arrest More Police, Gavin Says

MEXICO CITY — U.S. Ambassador John Gavin said Friday that he has been told by Mexican authorities that more policemen will be arrested in the coming days for their role in the kidnaping and murder of U.S. narcotics agent Enrique S. Camarena.

He spoke with reporters at a news conference about the arrests earlier in the week of 13 police-related suspects in the case, then added, “Unfortunately, there will also be some other elements supposedly defending the law, wearing badges, that will be brought in.”

He said Mexican authorities are aware they would have to undergo “a house-cleaning process.”

Gavin expressed the U.S. government’s gratitude to Mexico for the arrests and said that the United States is “pleased that they were able to move so quickly.”

On Thursday night, the Mexican attorney general’s office announced that six members of the Jalisco state judicial police had been detained as suspects in the case, along with six others described as former policemen or associates.

The l3th policeman suspect, a former metropolitan section commander in the homicide division in Guadalajara, Gabriel Gonzalez Gonzalez, died in police custody. The probable cause of death was listed as acute hemorrhaging of the pancreas.

Believes Two Confessed

Gavin said it is his understanding that two of the police suspects in custody had confessed to taking part in the actual abduction. But the attorney general’s office said that only one of those under arrest had confessed.

The confession of two policemen, if verified, would confirm a suspicion some U.S. investigators have held from the beginning-- that Camarena was kidnaped by people he knew.

Eyewitnesses to the kidnaping have told investigators that four men in a car abducted the Drug Enforcement Administration agent moments after he walked out of the American Consulate General in Guadalajara on the afternoon of Feb. 7 on his way to lunch.

“Certainly he knew at least two of them, or he wouldn’t have walked over there openly,” the U.S. ambassador contended.

Strong Language by Gavin

Gavin also used strong language in singling out two reputed leaders of the illicit narcotics trade in Mexico--Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Felix Gallardo--as the masterminds of the kidnaping and murder.

“They are obviously the intellectual authors of this detestable crime and they are still at large,” Gavin said in response to a question.

Gavin said he had been told Thursday night in a private meeting with Atty. Gen. Sergio Garcia Ramirez that Mexican authorities are continuing the investigation. As for the remaining 12 suspects in custody, he said the government is “developing its legal processes in order to indict or to hold these people.”

Gonzalez, the Guadalajara police commander who died in detention, had been in charge at one time of the investigation into the disappearances of four American Jehovah’s Witnesses from Guadalajara last December.

Considered Fine Investigator

At the time, U.S. officials in Guadalajara had said he was one of the best police investigators in the state. Asked about this, Gavin remarked that if indeed this assessment was made by American officials, “then the wool was being pulled over our eyes.”

During his meeting with Garcia Ramirez, Gavin delivered a private letter to the attorney general from his new American counterpart, Edwin Meese III. Gavin would not discuss its contents but said the two officials hope to meet “in the very near future.”

Mexican reporters at the news conference complained about signs that have sprung up in Calexico and other areas of Southern California warning travelers that it is unsafe to travel to Mexico, particularly to Guadalajara.

Gavin replied that the signs were put up by individuals, not by government authorities.