Humberto Álvarez Machaín is a physician from Guadalajara, Mexico, who was accused of aiding the torture and killing of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena Salazar in February 1985.
[1] In 1990, a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles confirmed that Álvarez had been captured in Mexico by bounty hunters seeking a reward offered by the US government, which gave rise to concerns over the legality of his apprehension.
The abduction and Supreme Court ruling were publicly opposed by Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay, Venezuela, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community, and the Group of Rio.
[3] Álvarez was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles in 1990 for alleged complicity in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Camarena Salazar and his pilot Alfredo Zavala-Avelar in Guadalajara, Mexico, in February 1985.
After the presentation of the government's case, the district court judge granted Álvarez's motion for judgment of acquittal on the ground of insufficient evidence to support a guilty verdict.