'Narcos: Mexico' season 2: Operation Leyenda may skip theory that CIA was involved in Kiki Camarena's murder
'Narcos: Mexico' brings the gritty tale of the Mexican drug war to the table. Season one ended with the gruesome 30-hour torture and murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena (Michael Peña) and season two is touted to bring Operation Leyenda into focus. One of the largest DEA homicide investigations and the biggest manhunt in America, it was launched to avenge Camarena’s brutal torture. It led to the subsequent arrest of Guadalajara Cartel heads Ernesto ‘Don Neto' Fonseca (Joaquín Cosío) and Rafael Caro Quintero (Tenoch Huerta). However, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna) fled the scene with the help of his political connections.
One of the major talking points of the entire fiasco is the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) alleged involvement in the kidnapping of Camarena. While there is no major proof, there have been quite a few accusations in the past. The popular Mexican norteño folk band Los Broncos de Reynosa called attention to the allegation 25 years ago in one of their well-known drug ballads played in local nightspots. It was soon dismissed as a mythical fable made up over shots of tequila. However, Phil Jordan, the former director of DEA’s powerful El Paso Intelligence Center in Texas, former DEA agent Héctor Berrellez and Tosh Plumlee came together in an interview to confirm the allegations.
Retired DEA agent James Kuykendall dropped some major hints in the book 'Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs, and the Press by Alexander Cockburn'. The book said that DEA officers investigating Camarena’s death "knew that the drug agent’s murder was a joint operation between the drug cartel and the DFS, an agency with intimate ties to the CIA." Kuykendall said, "The CIA didn’t give a damn about anything but Cuba and the Soviets. Indirectly, they (the CIA) have got to take some of the blame.” He alleged the CIA "protected the DFS for decades,” and stated, "The DFS just got out of hand."
With all the hullabaloo around it, viewers are pumped up to see if the conspiracy is a part of the next season. "Next season will focus on Operation Leyenda. Wonder if they go into the theory the CIA had Kiki killed?" one user on Reddit wondered. "By far the craziest is the accusation that the CIA was behind Kiki's abduction and murder. Supposedly it was a white guy who picked out Kiki to have him get abducted in the first place. And a DEA agent, Hector Barrellez, is on record saying the CIA was behind it."
"There are zero vibes from the show that the CIA is behind it though. And the show made up so much. I wonder if they had pressure to not directly implicate the CIA? If they include Barrellez in this next season though it will be hard not to. His story is f**king amazing," he added.
One user said, "It might get an off the cuff mention, but I don't think they would go as far as to suggest the CIA had Kiki Killed. It veers far too much into conspiracy theory territory," while another speculated, "I believe Jaime Kuykendall himself believes there was some level of acquiescing in DC to Kiki’s kidnapping."
Another comment read: "It really sucks that the show won't go there. They have shown us that the CIA is shady, but it's really too bad that they stop short, adding, "The relationship between the CIA and the DFS was known later on, and at best they would have been aware of the kidnapping and done nothing to help. At worst they would have orchestrated it because of Kiki finding out about their involvement and gun-running. There's just far too much smoke surrounding the CIA for them to be innocent in this."
However, much to viewers' dismay, chances are that the show creators are likely to chop off the controversial allegations since there was no such character development in the first season too. While there is no official release date, 'Narcos: Mexico' has been renewed for season two on Netflix that will see a new rival challenge Felix in another cat-and-mouse game after Kiki's murder.