Red Ribbon Week |
History
Enrique Camarena never asked to be a hero. In 1985, when he was murdered by drug dealers in Mexico, they ended his life but not his dream. Here is his story.
Growing up in a dirt-floored house in Mexico, Enrique Camarena wanted to make a difference. When he was little, he begged his mother for a toy gun. "I need a gun," he said, "because I'm going to be a policeman when I grow up." At nine, Kiki moved with his family to the United States to pick fruit.
Enrique Camarena After excelling in high school, Kiki faced a critical turning point. His friends were headed for trouble, and he had to decide whether he wanted to follow them into a life of crime and drugs. The deeply engrained desire to make a difference won out, and Kiki opted to stay straight, working his way through college and earning a degree in criminal justice.
Following stints in the Marines and the police force, Kiki joined the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 1974. It was the best way he knew to stop drugs and to help people he cared about. His mother, concerned about dangers inherent in his job, tried to talk him out of it. "I can't not do this," he told her. "I'm only one person, but I want to make a difference."
Camarena's work became famous all over the United States and Latin America. He infiltrated drug trafficking bands and successfully helped break up many of them, confiscating thousands of pounds of cocaine and hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana. He managed to keep his face out of the newspapers and other media despite the fact his name was well known.
Kiki had been in Mexico 4-1/2 years on the trail of Mexico’s marijuana and cocaine barons. In early 1985, Kiki asked to be transferred to Guadalajara, Mexico, the center of the drug trafficking empire, to work undercover. For weeks he lived among the drug cartel, gathering information and evidence, and he was close to unlocking a multibillion dollar drug-pipeline, which he suspected involved officers in the Mexican army, police and government. Kiki was due to be reassigned in three weeks, when his identity was discovered.
Enrique Camarena Thursday, February 7, 1985, at about 2:00 p.m. Kiki locked his badge and his service revolver in his desk drawer and left to meet his wife for lunch. According to DEA’s reconstruction of events, Kiki crossed the street to his pickup truck, turned off the truck’s burglar alarm with his key, and unlocked his door. Before he could get into the cab and grab the two-way radio with which he could alert his partners, he was grabbed by five men, who shoved him into a beige Volkswagen van, and sped away. This was the last time anyone but his kidnappers would see him alive.
One month later, Kiki Camarena’s body and that of his informant, Alfredo Zavala Avelar, were discovered in a shallow grave, 70 miles from Michoacan, Mexico. They had been tortured, beaten, and brutally murdered. Enrique Camarena, 37 years old, left behind a wife, Mika (34) and three sons, Enrique (11), Daniel (6), and Erick (4).
News of the tragedy hit newspapers, radio stations, and television news broadcasts. To honor Camarena's memory, and to show that they would continue his fight against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors wore red badges of satin. Parents who had come together in local coalitions to fight the drug problem took Kiki as their model, embracing his belief that one person can make a difference, and adopting his symbol--the red ribbon--as their own. This began the continuing tradition of wearing and displaying red ribbons as a symbol of intolerance towards the use of drugs.
Red Ribbon In 1988, the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth joined with DEA and implemented an eight-day Red Ribbon campaign that spread to places as far away as Europe. The National Red Ribbon Week is celebrated every year during the last week of October. The purpose of the Red Ribbon Campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment toward the creation of a DRUG-FREE AMERICA, and is dedicated to Enrique "Kiki" Camarena and all of the people who have been wrongly killed due to the violence of drugs.
Camarena's legend grew even more after his death: movies about him were produced in Mexico, in November of 1988, Time Magazine had him on their cover, and in 1990, a
U.S. television mini-series about Camarena won an Emmy award (Drug Wars: The Camarena Story). He had received numerous awards while with the DEA, and after his death, he was given the Administrator's Award of Honor, the highest award given by the organization. The DEA hosts a yearly golf tournament in Miami in his honor.
The United States government pursued a lengthy investigation of Camarena's murder: due to the difficulty of extraditing Mexican citizens, the FBI went as far as to have one suspect, Humberto Alvarez-Machain, kidnapped by bounty hunters and taken into the United States. Despite vigorous protests from the Mexican government, Alvarez was tried in United States District Court in Los Angeles, but the trial resulted in an acquittal.
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When Red Ribbon Week began, it was observed the "last full week of October, encompassing two weekends". These dates change each year. (In 2002, Red Ribbon Week is October 19th to 27th).
This format allowed a Monday through Friday celebration at the school sites. The weekends emphasized the role of athletics/sports and faith based organizations in prevention.
The end of October brings more than just fall colors and trick-or-treating. October 23-31 is National Red Ribbon
Week! It's a time when people like you pledge to stay drug free and join the fight against drug use. Check out the fun ways that you can participate. Get your family, friends, and neighbors involved in the fight against drugs.
What Can You Do? Ten Ways to Participate in National Red Ribbon Week
1. Sign a pledge card! Click here to download a whole page of cards to share with your family and friends.
2. Tie red ribbons around trees, flagpoles, or mailboxes in your community. Be sure to get permission from city officials or owners.
3. Weave plastic red ribbon or crepe paper through chain link fences.
4. Make posters about staying drug free and ask your school and local businesses to display them. Make an extra-cool poster for your own front door.
5. Plan a red meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Serve red foods like watermelon, tomato juice, and apples. Ask an adult to help you dye foods red with food coloring.
6. Decorate every door in your school or neighborhood with messages that promote a drug-free lifestyle.
7. Hold a "Sock It To Drugs Day" and ask everyone to wear the craziest socks they can find.
8. Go national! Invite all your friends and neighbors to sign their names on red ribbons. Then send them to your Congressperson in Washington, DC. To find out who your representative is, click here for the House of Representatives or here for the Senate.
9. Plant something red, like tulips, and remember your pledge to be drug free when they bloom in the spring.
10. Get a large roll of paper and write at the top, "Red Ribbon Week Pledge Banner--I promise to live a drug-free life." Tape the paper to a popular hallway wall in your school and have teachers and students sign as they pass by.
Be Creative! Be Active! Be Drug Free!
Can you think of other ways to show the world that you're drug-free and encourage others to join you? Do it!
Kikki Camarena was one person who chose to make a difference by fighting drug use. Today, over 80 million people have joined his battle. What kind of difference are YOU going to make?
| National Red Ribbon Week for a Drug-Free America Proclamation By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Drug and alcohol abuse in America annually create staggering societal costs and prevent millions of people from reaching their full potential at school, on the job, and in their communities. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that approximately 14 million Americans use illegal drugs and 17 million Americans are alcoholics or abusers of alcohol. To improve the well-being of our Nation and to protect our people, we must continue to make the prevention and treatment of drug and alcohol abuse a national priority. The rate of abuse of drugs and alcohol by our Nation's youth is cause for alarm. Currently, 3 million young people between the ages of 14 and 17 have an alcohol problem, and more than half of America's school-age children have tried illegal drugs by the time they have finished high school. Research indicates that youth who avoid the early use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are less likely to engage in other harmful behaviors such as crime, delinquency, and other illegal drug use. That is why we must clearly communicate to America's youth that drug and alcohol abuse is dangerous and harmful to both their health and their future. Through the efforts of families, law enforcement officers, healthcare professionals, teachers, and dedicated community activists, we have made progress in the ongoing war against substance abuse. To continue this progress, my Administration is implementing a comprehensive, results-oriented strategy for reducing illegal drug use in America. We will work cooperatively with other nations to help eradicate illegal drugs at their source. We will increase border security to stop the flow of these drugs into America. And we will provide Federal support to local law enforcement agencies in combating drug trafficking networks. The most effective way, however, to reduce the cycle of youth drug addiction and the crime it causes is to reduce demand. This effort begins at home; and it depends upon the active participation of families, schools, and community organizations in education and outreach programs that clearly communicate to children the dangers inherent in drug and alcohol abuse. On the occasion of "National Red Ribbon Week for a Drug-Free America," Laura and I are pleased to serve as Honorary Chairpersons of the 2001 National Red Ribbon Campaign. We join all Americans in saying that we will no longer tolerate the destructive impact that drug and alcohol abuse have had on our homes, schools, workplaces, and highways. With strong resolve and creative leadership, we can protect our communities from the preventable dangers of substance abuse and restore dignity and character to millions of men, women, and children who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the period beginning October 23 through October 31, 2001, as National Red Ribbon Week for a Drug-Free America. I encourage citizens to support activities that raise awareness and encourage prevention of substance abuse. I also call upon every American to wear a red ribbon throughout the week in recognition of their commitment to a healthy, drug-free lifestyle and our commitment to a drug-free America. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-sixth. GEORGE W. BUSH |
