Héctor Luis Palma Salazar (born April 29, 1960), commonly known as "El Güero Palma", is a Mexican former

drug trafficker The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs throug ...

and leader of the

Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel ( es, link=no, Cártel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in il ...

alongside

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (; born 4 April 1957), commonly known as "El Chapo" (), is a Mexican former drug lord and a former leader within the Sinaloa Cartel, an international crime syndicate. He is considered to have been one of th ...

. After the brutal murder of his family ordered by his boss

Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (born January 8, 1946), commonly referred to by his aliases ''El Jefe de Jefes'' ("The Boss of Bosses") and ''El Padrino'' ("The Godfather"), is a convicted Mexican drug lord Kingpin. He was one of the founders of th ...

, Palma engaged in a string of vicious crimes to avenge his lost ones. Palma was arrested on June 23, 1995, and extradited to the United States where he served a jail sentence until June 2016. He was then deported back to Mexico and charged with a double homicide for having murdered two Nayarit police officers back in 1995. Palma is currently incarcerated at the Altiplano Prison, near

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

Early life and career

Jesús Héctor Luis Palma Salazar was born in Noria de Abajo, Mocorito, Sinaloa, on April 29, 1960. He began his life of crime as a

car thief "Car Thief" is the 11th track on the album ''Paul's Boutique'' by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989. It heavily samples "Rien Ne Va Plus" by Funk Factory, and was itself sampled in Faith No More's 1992 song "Mid ...

and eventually worked as a gunman for

, under the umbrella of the

Guadalajara Cartel The Guadalajara Cartel ( es, Cártel de Guadalajara) also known as The Federation ( es, La Federación, link=no) was a Mexican drug cartel which was formed in the late 1970s by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Rafael Caro Quintero, and Ernesto Fo ...

. Palma rose up the ranks, along with Abelardo "El Lobito" Retamoza Machado, eventually became a co-leader of the cartel. He was associated with

. Following the loss of a large

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

shipment which was blamed on El Chapo and Palma, on 1988 El Lobito Retamoza was killed but Palma spared. Following El Lobito's death, Palma contacted and created an alliance with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán of the

. Palma splintered from the group, which was handed down to Felix Gallardo's nephews in

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

, who later formed the

Tijuana Cartel The Tijuana Cartel (Spanish: ''Cártel de Tijuana'') or Arellano-Félix-Organization (Spanish: ''Organización Arellano Félix'', AFO) is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Founded by the Arellano-Félix family, the ...

(also known as the Arellano Félix Organization). Palma, along with a Venezuelan trafficker named Rafael Enrique Clavel, the one-time boyfriend of Palma's sister Minerva Palma, began operating their own cartel.

First arrest and family's murder

In 1978, Palma was arrested in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

for drug trafficking and sentenced to eight years in a U.S. prison. Upon his release, he discovered his wife, Guadalupe Leija Serrano, had run off with Clavel and taken her and Palma's two children. Clavel forced Guadalupe to withdraw US$7 million from a bank account and later decapitated her and shipped her head back to Palma. The two young children, Jesús (aged 5) and Nataly (aged 4), were taken to Venezuela and thrown off a bridge named 'Puente de la Concordia', located in the city of San Cristóbal,Táchira, about 40 kms from the border with Colombia. Soon afterward, Clavel began working for the Tijuana Cartel. In retaliation, Palma executed Gallardo's lawyer and Clavel's three children. Clavel would later be arrested and soon be murdered in jail by an inmate on Palma's orders. Palma returned to trafficking, this time within the Sinaloa Cartel, sharing leadership with Adrián Palma Reyes and Joaquin Guzmán Loera (El Chapo) would later become the leader of the Sinaloa cartel while Adrian Palma Reyes became a lieutenant of Guzman and leader of the Badiraguato plaza in Sinaloa with the Reyes family as his armed wing.

Second arrest

Palma was arrested on June 23, 1995, after a 12-seat Lear jet he was flying on to attend a wedding party crash-landed. He was traveling from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, to Guadalajara, Jalisco, when the jet was diverted and unable to locate a new landing strip in time. Palma survived the crash-landing and was later arrested by Mexican military officers; he originally evaded capture by traveling in full uniform as a

Federal Judicial Police The Federal Judicial Police ( es, Policía Judicial Federal, the PJF) was the federal police force of Mexico until it was shut down in 2002 due to its own rampant corruption and criminal activity. The jurisdiction of the Federal Judicial Police en ...

(PJF) officer complete with identification and an armed caravan of PJF personnel. After serving nine years in the Atwater Federal Prison, Palma was extradited back to Mexico in June 2016, when he was charged with a double murder of police officers in 1995, in Nayarit. He is currently incarcerated at the Altiplano Prison, near

Kingpin Act sanction

On 2 June 2003, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

sanctioned Palma under the ''

Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, better known as the Kingpin Act, is landmark federal legislation in the United States intended to address international narcotics trafficking by imposing United States sanctions on foreign persons ...

'' (sometimes referred to simply as the ''Kingpin Act'') for his involvement in drug trafficking, along with six other international criminals and three entities. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.

Corruption

Palma had managed to insert himself into the depths of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police (PJF), evading detection by posing as one in complete uniform, with identification, and traveling in a heavily armed caravan of PJF officers. It was later discovered he was able to evade capture by staying at the home of the local police commander. The corruption within the police force has been documented to have spread to the judicial system. By bribing judges, the Sinaloa Cartel has repeatedly evaded prosecution. In 2004, 18 men were arrested in possession of 28 machine guns, 2 hand guns, 223

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 12

grenade launchers A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially-designed large-caliber projectile, often with an explosive, smoke or gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary grenade cartridges. The m ...

, 18

hand grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ge ...

smoke grenades Smoke grenades used at demonstrations in Paris, 2008 upBritish L83A1 Smoke Grenade manufactured in May 2008. This grenade has already been used. A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone mark ...

and

bulletproof vests A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. Th ...

. The men were set free by Judge José Luis Gómez Martínez, who said there was no evidence they were part of any criminal organization.

In popular culture

In '' Narcos: Mexico'' seasons 1–3, Palma is played by Gorka Lasaosa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palma Salazar, Hector Luis People of the Mexican Drug War Sinaloa Cartel traffickers Living people Mexican prisoners and detainees People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act People from Mocorito Municipality 1960 births