Dead doctors killed Mexican drug lord
By Rene Villegas

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) Three doctors whose tortured bodies were found
embedded in cement murdered Mexico's top drug lord during a plastic surgery
operation, officials said.

Although the circumstances of the death of cocaine capo Amado Carrillo
Fuentes in July hinted at foul play, the announcement late Thursday marked
the first time officials had said they were sure the notorious drug lord
had been murdered.

The doctors were presumably killed in revenge.

According to Mariano Herran, the head of Mexico's antidrug agency, the
doctors killed the Juarez cartel leader with a lethal injection of a
sedative early July 5 as he was recovering from plastic surgery to alter
his appearance.

``(The doctors) maliciously and with intent to kill gave Carrillo an
injection of drugs that caused his death,'' Herran told a news conference.

Up to now, officials had said the dose of Dormicum that killed Carrillo
could have been injected by mistake. The drug is relatively common in
hospitals but can be fatal during recovery from surgery.

Officials issued arrest warrants for the three doctors Oct. 30, a few days
before their bodies were found stuffed into oil drums alongside a highway.

According to forensics expoerts, the doctors were already dead by the time
the warrants were issued.

Herran refused to speculate on why the doctors allegedly killed Carrillo
Fuentes but said officials were investigating who masterminded the killing.
Mexican media have speculated that the doctors had been bought off by a
rival drug gang.

The revelation was the latest twist to the soapoperastyle death of
Carrillo, who was known as the ``Lord of the Skies'' for his tactic of
using retired commercial jetliners to transport huge loads of cocaine from
South America to Mexico.

News of the capo's death stunned U.S. and Mexican officials, and many in
Mexico wondered whether the billionaire drug lord had staged a sham.

Rumors persist that Carrillo is still alive and led U.S. officials to
declare as recently as Thursday that Carrillo was as dead as Elvis Presley.
On Friday, Mexico's Attorney General Jorge Madrazo assured journalists that
the drug lord was ``100 percent dead.''

Herran said two of the doctors had been identified as Jaime Godoy and
Carlos Avila, both Mexican surgeons. A third corpse had not yet been
identified but was believed to be a Colombian doctor, Ricardo Reyes.

The mangled bodies were found Monday along the Mexico CityAcapulco
highway. Godoy had his fingernails pulled out, his torso badly burned and a
bullet in his neck, officials said.