The Chiapas airfield ambush occurred in 1988 when Guadalajara Cartel lieutenant Amado Carrillo Fuentes ambushed the DEA Operation Leyenda task force at an airfield in Chiapas, Mexico, resulting in the near-eradication of the team and the successful delivery of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo's 70-ton cocaine shipment.
Background[]
In 1987, DEA agent Walt Breslin and his Operation Leyenda task force focused their efforts on taking down the Guadalajara Cartel's new air fleet which was being assembled at Ciudad Juarez by Amado Carrillo Fuentes. They placed trackers on six Aero Tropical planes which Amado had purchased at auction in Belize, ultimately locating two airfields in Chiapas and Veracruz where the transport planes would refuel while travelling north from Colombia, and then locating another major airfield outside of Juarez.
The shipment[]
Navegante handing over the shipment to Amado Carrillo Fuentes
In 1988, while fixing one of the planes, one of Amado's engineers located a tracking device in one of the planes, and Amado decided to scour all of his planes and remove the devices from them, foiling the DEA's efforts. That same year, Amado prepared to transport a 70-ton cocaine shipment for his boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who was aiming to prove to the Colombian Cali Cartel that he was still the most powerful and capable ally of theirs in Mexico. The DEA planned to bust this shipment, but Amado - aware of their intentions - set a trap for them. After receiving the shipment from Cali lieutenant Jorge Velasquez ("El Navegante"), Amado sent it north, but he had his engineer place the tracker back in one of the planes in order to lure the DEA into a prepared ambush.
Ambush[]
Ossie Mejia's death
The DEA team arrived at nighttime, and they waited for the plane to arrive before heading towards the runway. After the product was unloaded, Agent Daryl Petski ordered the agents to move, and Danilo Garza inspected the packages. Upon tasting the goods, he deduced that it wasn't cocaine, and he was shot in the head by a sniper seconds later. The lights suddenly turned on, and Breslin ordered his men to brace for an ambush. The DEA team was pinned down, and Ossie Mejia was wounded in the leg. He volunteered to sacrifice himself to help his team escape, and he climbed into a pickup truck and drove it into a fuel tank to kill several Guadalajara gunmen along with himself. Amat Palacios was gunned down while following Breslin and Sal Orozco in retreating towards the mountain, and Breslin ordered Orozco to head to the safehouse as he tried to rescue Amat. However, he saw Guillermo Calderoni confront Amat, only to shoot the two cartel gunmen who accompanied him. He asked where Breslin was, but, upon seeing other cartel gunmen approaching, he was forced to shoot a mortally wounded Amat in the forehead to maintain his cover. He then gave the cartel gunmen false information as to where the survivors ran to, and he then confronted Breslin and told him that, had Breslin kept him in the loop, he could have warned Breslin about the trap, as Amado had found the transponders just two days earlier. He then spared Breslin and told him to walk away until he heard the locals speak English, and, shortly after, Amado reported his successful diversion to Miguel Angel, who was delighted to hear that his shipment was safe and sound.