Jesús Hector Gutiérrez Rebollo (19 April 1934 – 19 December 2013) was a Mexican military general who was sentenced to 40 years in prison on multiple charges, including involvement in

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

in the late nineties.

Biography

He was born in 1934 in Jonacatepec, Morelos. He was a career soldier who rose to the rank of Division General. He commanded the Fifth Military Region based in

Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

, and worked for the office of the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

where he was appointed the country's top-ranking drug interdiction officer in 1996 as head of the ''Instituto Nacional para el Combate a las Drogas'' (INCD).General Gutierrez to Head Up Mexico's War Against Drugs
(December 6, 1996). Gutiérrez had access to local intelligence and to intelligence provided to Mexico by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, including anti-drug investigations, wiretaps, interdiction programs, operations and informant identities.

Arrest and charges

The authorities began investigating Gutiérrez on February 6, 1997, after they received a tip that he had moved into an expensive apartment "whose rent could not be paid for with the wage received by a public servant." Mexican authorities also obtained a recording of Gutiérrez and drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes in which Gutiérrez allegedly discussed payments to be made to him in exchange for ignoring Carrillo Fuentes' illegal drug activities. Gutiérrez was taken into custody and charged with bribery, perverting the course of justice and facilitating the transportation of

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

. Gutiérrez Rebollo later was convicted of aiding the drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Early in 1997, he was fired from his post after an investigation showed that he had received bribes from the Juárez drug cartel. He was sentenced to 31 years 10 months 15 days imprisonment for misuse of weapons restricted to the Army. In 2007 he was sentenced by a federal court to a further forty years imprisonment and a fine of 24,716,829 pesos.

Death

Gutiérrez died of brain cancer at the Central Military Hospital in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

on 19 December 2013, while he was serving his 40-year sentence. He was 79.

In popular culture

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

'' is a

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

American crime drama film directed by

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh ( ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. A pioneer of modern Independent film, independent cinema, Soderbergh later drew acclaim for formally inventiv ...

and written by

Stephen Gaghan Stephen Gaghan ( ; born May 6, 1965) is an American screenwriter and director. He is noted for writing the screenplay for Steven Soderbergh's film '' Traffic'', based on a Channel 4 series, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Sc ...

. It explores the intricacies of the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker, whose lives affect each other although they do not meet. The character General Arturo Salazar is closely modeled after General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo. The

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...

El Señor de los Cielos ''El Señor de los Cielos'' (in English: ''Lord of the Skies'') is an American crime drama television series created by Luis Zelkowicz, based on an original idea by Mariano Calasso, and Andrés López. It premiered on Telemundo on 15 April 2013. ...

'' is loosely based on the life of Amado Carrillo Fuentes and how he was helped by General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo. Rebollo is depicted in Season Three of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' Narcos: Mexico'', portrayed by José Zúñiga.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutiérrez Rebollo, Jesús 1934 births 2013 deaths Mexican drug traffickers Mexican prisoners and detainees People from Morelos Prisoners and detainees of Mexico