Barrio Azteca gang member admits to drug trafficking and triple murder charges in Juárez

Enrique Guajardo López, a 59-year-old member of the transborder gang Barrio Azteca, pleaded guilty in federal court in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday to charges related to a drug trafficking conspiracy that led to a triple murder in 2010. López, also known as Kiki and originally from Juárez, Mexico, admitted his involvement in the conspiracy to commit racketeering and to distribute and import drugs.

The guilty plea is part of a larger case involving 35 members and associates of Barrio Azteca, a gang operating in both the United States and Mexico. These individuals are accused of various drug trafficking-related crimes, including extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and murder. López was specifically implicated in the March 13, 2010, killings of Leslie Ann Enríquez Catton, an employee of the U.S. Consulate in Juárez, her husband Arthur Redelfs, and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of another consulate employee.

Out of the 35 defendants, 10 Mexican citizens, including López, were indicted for their roles in these murders. The Department of Justice stated that 30 of the accused have pleaded guilty, three were convicted after trials, and one died by suicide before his trial concluded. One defendant still awaits trial.

López, who acted as a lookout during the murders, faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The Barrio Azteca gang, which emerged in the late 1980s, evolved into a transnational criminal organization. By the early 2000s, it had formed an alliance in Mexico with La Línea, a group associated with the Juárez Cartel.