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Alleged Drug Cartel Leader to Enter Plea Today

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published February 11, 2008 at 7:45 AM PST
This story was published more than 16 years ago.

A man suspected to be one of the U.S. Mexico border region's most notorious drug lords will enter a plea in federal court in San Diego today. Mexico extradited the alleged former leader of the Sinaloa

A man suspected to be one of the U.S. Mexico border region's most notorious drug lords will enter a plea in federal court in San Diego today. Mexico extradited the alleged former leader of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel to the United States last January. KPBS reporter Amy Isackson has more.

Court documents say Hector Palma Salazar smuggled more than 50 tons of cocaine into the United States from 1988 to 1995.

Palma Salazar allegedly attempted to sneak tons of cocaine across the border packed inside chili pepper cans. A federal grand jury in San Diego indicted Palma in 1995. Mexican soldiers arrested him in Guadalajara in 2002. Palma maintains he's a rancher, not a drug trafficker.

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When Mexican President Felipe Calderon extradited Palma last year it signaled Mexico was serious about cracking down on drugs. The Sinaloa and Arellano Felix cartels are bitter rivals.

Palma faces a minimum 10 years in prison.

Amy Isackson, KPBS News.

Amy Isackson
Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.
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