Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, also known as El Azul ("The Blue One") is a Mexican drug lord and a former Director - General of the DFS.
Esparragoza used his influence within the DFS to run a drug smuggling operation out of Guadalajara with the Naranjo brothers. He later formed a partnership with the Sinaloan ex-police officer Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo to found an organization which would grow to be the Guadalajara Cartel.
He succeeded Salvador Osuna Nava as the Director - General of the DFS in 1984 and served in the position till the organization's disbandment in 1985; after which he became a full-member of the cartel leadership. Having felt that Félix Gallardo unnecessarily gambled on the lives of his employees without their consent, he joined Héctor Palma Salazar in leaving the Guadalajara Cartel; and became a founding member of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Biography[]
DFS career[]
Formation of the Guadalajara cartel[]
Azul agrees to work with Rafael Caro Quintero.
Azul became a high ranking member of the DFS by 1980, and directly reported to Director-General Salvador Osuna Nava. He used his power to partner with Hernan and Hernin Naranjo to run a marijuana smuggling business in the cosmopolitan city of Guadalajara.
In 1980, Hernin was shot dead while meeting with Sinaloan drug traffickers sent by Pedro Avilés Pérez. Azul sent his right-hand man Tomas Morlet to arrest the Sinaloan smugglers and kill them; however one of the Sinaloans, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo tricked Morlet into taking them to directly to Azul. There, Félix Gallardo showed Azul a kilogram of sinsemilia, a seedless variant of marijuana created by his partner Rafael Caro Quintero. He explained that since it was seedless, it lacked the impurities present in conventionally grown marijuana, and more marijuana can be transported for the same volume. Hernan stormed in, demanding the death of the Sinaloans, however, Azul proceeded to shot Hernan in the head, and agreed to form a partnership with the Sinaloans in exchange for 50% of the profits. Azul provided Rafael with a 540 hectare field in Zacatecas to grow marijuana, and this field would eventually grow to be the Rancho Búfalo.
Félix later informed Azul of his plan to unite all of the important plazas under a consortium led by his boss in order to monopolize the Mexican drug trade. Azul was supportive of the plan, and convinced Osuna Nava to attend the meeting for the formation of the consortium. Immediately after all the smugglers proclaim the formation of their cartel, Pedro Avilés proceeded to remove Chihuahua-based drug trafficker Pablo Acosta Villarreal from the organization for allegedly showing disrespect. The organization immediately fell apart as the other plaza leaders began to leave, fearing that Acosta might undercut them.
The DFS, with the support of Pedro Avilés' treasurer Ernesto "Don Neto" Fonseca intercept Pedro's convoy and had Félix kill him. They also made Félix as the head of the organization, creating the Guadalajara Cartel.
However, relations between Osuna and Félix immediately began deteriorating. Osuna felt that the traffickers were trying to cheat him, and sent DFS agents to kill veteran smuggler Victor Molina as an example, angering Félix. Things took a terrible turn when Félix unilaterally decided to smuggle cocaine from Colombia into the United States without consulting the DFS. Unbeknownst to the DFS top brass, Félix formed connections with Mexico's Defense Minister. After ensuring that the defense ministry would take over the DFS' role, Félix publicly bludgeoned Osuna Nava to death with an ashtray in the lobby of his hotel, and Azul could only helplessly watch. After Osuna Nava's death, Azul was promoted as his replacement in 1984.
Death of Enrique Camarena[]
In November 1984, the Mexican Army with the help of the DEA raided the Rancho Búfalo, and burned marijuana worth nearly $8 billion. The raid sent ripples across the cartel leadership, as the drug plantation was protected by the DFS and its existence was kept secret to the military and the Americans. Eventually, the DFS discover that the plantation was discovered by American DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar with the help of his Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar.
Félix did not want to retaliate as cocaine was the cartel's main source of income at that point, but Azul and the defense minister pressurized him to do so as they wanted to know how much intelligence Camarena gathered about the cartel leadership and its connections to the Mexican government. The DFS planned on abducting Camarena and Zavala, and manipulated Caro Quintero, who was addicted to cocaine at that point, to call the orders. After having Morlet kidnap Camarena and Zavala, Azul had them brought to a mansion owned by Rubén Zuno Arce to be tortured by Sergio Espino Verdin. Félix stormed into the compound and berated Rafael for agreeing to the kidnapping, and warned him that he would be used as a fall guy in case the kidnapping goes wrong. Despite Don Neto's objections, Félix changed his mind, and ordered Verdin to begin to torture.
Camarena and Zavala were tortured for over 30 hours, and were kept awake by Delgado injecting adrenaline into their bodies. Their interrogation was recorded by the DFS. After their deaths, their bodies were thrown away outside a ranch in the Mexican countryside.
Camarena's abduction caused political tensions between the United States and Mexico. The United States government forced the Mexicans to act on Camarena's murderers, and the Mexican government decided to arrest several police officers involved with the cartel, along with Morlet. The Mexican government also initiated the process to dismantle the DFS.
Azul giving Félix a fake DFS ID to flee Mexico.
Azul met Félix, who fled to the countryside, and gave him a fake DFS ID and audio cassettes of Camarena's interrogation. Félix offered him a position in his organization as payment, but Azul informed him about a meeting held by the plaza leaders to oust Félix from the cartel.
Félix used the tapes from Camarena's interrogation to buy his safety from Guillermo Calderoni, threatening the commandante that if he arrest Félix, the tapes which contained the names of high ranking Mexican politicians would be leaked, endangering Calderoni's life. Félix similarly used the tapes to gain leverage over the Mexican government, securing his freedom after ratting out Don Neto. Félix, now with military protection, barged into the meeting held by the plaza leaders and regained control of his organization, and appointed Azul as his second-in-command.
Guadalajara Cartel[]
After the increased border surveillance following Camarena's death, it became difficult for the Cali Cartel, Félix's chief suppliers to pay their dues. Hélmer Herrera, of the bosses of the Cali Cartel, blamed Félix for the disruption of cash flow, and told him that the decision to kidnap an American federal agent was moronic. Enraged by his arrogance, Félix set out to form an alliance with Juan Nepomuceno Guerra of the Gulf Cartel to renegotiate the deal with the Colombians.
As Félix was busy trying to one up the Colombians, the relationship between the Tijuana plaza led by Benjamín Arellano Félix and the Sinaloa plaza led by Héctor Palma Salazar began to deteriorate. The Sinaloans began to move their cocaine to California by constructing a tunnel under Tijuana, angering the Tijuanas who proceeded to destroy the tunnel. This incident led to a series of shootouts between both plazas. Meanwhile, Nepomuceno Guerra betrayed Félix and formed a separate partnership with Herrera. Knowing that the move would end his cartel, Félix made an impossible promise of transferring 70 tons of cocaine in one go.
Félix later survived an attempt on his life by the Gulf cartel. Benjamín Arellano Félix heard of the ambush, and threatened to expose Félix's weakness to the other plazas if Félix didn't allow him to kill Cochiloco, Sinaloa's second-in-command. Félix reluctantly agreed.
Azul informed Félix that the defense minister failed to win the PRI presidential nomination for the upcoming elections due to the arrest of his nephew Rubén Zuno Arce. He also informed that the chosen nominee is a family friend of Nepomuceno Guerra.
After Ramón Arellano Félix killed Cochiloco, a distraught Palma spoke to his former mentor Pablo Acosta about leaving the cartel. The conversation was recorded, and was played to Félix. Félix sent Azul to kill Palma and his family at his home. However, Félix's driver Rafael Enrique Clavel informed his lover and Palma's wife Guadalupe Leija Serrano about the attack on her home.
Azul eating Palma's dinner.
Azul and two of his men snuck into Palma's home, and found it empty. He noticed Palma's wife and children escaping the compound, and alerted his men. At that moment, Palma ambushed them, killing both of Azul's bodyguards. Azul escaped by jumping out of the window, and a gunfight ensued between them in the streets. After Palma gained the upper hand, Azul fled the scene.
At that point, Azul himself felt that Félix was gambling upon the lives of his partners, and felt that he would receive the same treatment as Félix's former partners like Caro Quintero and Don Neto. He began talking to Joaquin "Chapo" Guzmán, the temporary leader of the Sinaloa plaza after Palma went into hiding.
After Amado Carrillo Fuentes moved the 70 tons of cocaine to the United States, Félix tipped off the location of one of the warehouses used by the Cali cartel to store the cocaine to the DEA, which resulted in the DEA seizing cocaine worth $7 billion. Félix did it in order to force Herrera to the negotiating table, and wanted the Cali cartel to pay them with cocaine instead of cash. However, the other plazas, who were already short on cash, were not supportive of the decision.
Chapo later met with Azul and Félix, and insisted upon Palma's return. Azul expressed that pardoning Palma would be the appropriate thing to do, as all the plaza leaders met earlier and agreed to his return. Félix expressed distate that the plaza leaders came to an agreement without consulting him, and threatened Clavel with death unless he kills Palma's wife and children; which he did.
Azul announcing the division of territory.
Félix called a meeting in Guadalajara, and informed his employees that they would be joining the cocaine retail business as well. However, the Tijuana drug traffickers walked out of the organization. Chapo and Azul immediately announced their intentions to leave as well, leading to Félix calling Azul a rat. Félix's organization collapsed when the Juarez bosses left, and he was immediately arrested.
After Félix is arrested, the plaza leaders met with the Gulf Cartel leaders, and formally divided the territory of the Guadalajara Cartel, and made a pact of peace.
Sinaloa Cartel[]
Securing a frontier[]
Azul and Palma became the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel after breaking away from Félix's organization in 1989. The Sinaloa Cartel still lacked a border to the U.S., and were forced to pay heavy taxes to the Tijuana Cartel to move drugs through their territory. As a result, they were the poorest of the main drug cartels in the country by 1992.
Death[]
In 1994, he was assassinated by gunmen sent by Enedina Arellano Félix while eating outside a restaurant. Palma survived the attack, and went into hiding. With Azul dead and Palma missing, Chapo took control of the Sinaloa Cartel and began working with Ismael Zambada García.
Historical inaccuracy[]
El Azul was arrested in 1986 for his involvement in Enrique Camarena Salazar's murder, and was released after completing his sentence in 1993. He immediately returned to drug trafficking by joining the Juarez Cartel. He only began working for the Sinaloa Cartel after Amado Carrillo Fuentes' death in 1997.
It is speculated that he died of a heart attack following a car crash in June 2014; while he is portrayed as being assassinated by the Tijuana Cartel 20 years earlier in the show.
| Narcos Mexico Season 1 | ||||
| "Camelot" Appears |
"The Plaza System" Appears |
"El Padrino" Appears |
"Rafa, Rafa, Rafa!" Appears |
"The Colombian Connection" Absent |
| "La Última Frontera" Appears |
"Jefe de Jefes" Appears |
"Just Say No" Appears |
"811 Lope de Vega" Appears |
"Leyenda" Appears |
| Narcos Mexico Season 2 | ||||
| "Salva El Tigre" Appears |
"Alea Iacta Est" Absent |
"Ruben Zuno Arce" Appears |
"The Big Dig" Appears |
"AFO" Appears |
| "El Dedazo" Appears |
"Truth and Reconciliation" Appears |
"Se Cayó El Sistema" Appears |
"Growth, Prosperity, and Liberation" Appears |
"Free Trade" Appears |