“Char” for Borderland Beat
This article was translated and reposted from INFOBAE
José Gil Caro was involved in activities linked to organized crime from an early age.
The name of a young man originally from Jalisco appeared in some newscasts in 2019 after he was arrested for drug and weapons possession in the state of Guerrero. No one knew he was the nephew of Rafael Caro Quintero, the former founder of the Guadalajara Cartel and ex-leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
His consanguinity with the drug lord was revealed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on December 6, 2023. He is Jesús José Gil Caro Monge, alias ‘Kikil’, son of José Gil Caro Quintero, alias ‘El Pelo Chino’, Rafael’s cousin.
At 32 years of age, ‘Kikil’ was sanctioned by the U.S. State Department due to his participation as a criminal leader in maritime drug trafficking from South America to Mexico.
According to official information, Caro Monge was born on June 20, 1991 and is very close to Mario Germán and Amberto Beltrán Araujo, sons of Amberto Beltrán Leyva, a previously unknown member of the criminal clan.
Kikil’ is the son of ‘El Pelo Chino (OFAC).
At the time ‘Kikil’ was arrested, his alias was not public. Still, it appeared months later in a narcocorrido performed by Regulo Caro Pérez, a well-known Mexican regional singer from Los Angeles, California.
On August 26, 2019, the singer published the song Kikil Caro on his YouTube channel, in which the young man’s pride in belonging to the criminal lineage is exposed.
Throughout its nearly three-minute duration, the performer narrates Jesús José’s interest in following in his father’s footsteps and his fondness for AK-47 rifles.
“But how expensive could it cost me to go in and out and not come out scratched, but how expensive could it cost me to get my hands dirty, since I’m already in?” are the opening lines of the song.
“There you go, son of ‘Pelo Chino’, you tell us what to do, we are ready,” can be heard in one of the verses of the corrido.
(Photo: OFAC)
“To the one who is of good blood, it doesn’t matter the terrain, here we stand and we are even […] My Kalashnikov [AK-47] threw up 100 shots, ‘Kikil’ Caro’s weapon of choice.”
El Pelo Chino’ is considered the leader of the Caborca Cartel and one of the principal drug traffickers in the state of Quintana Roo, where his son’s name first appeared in the press for his links to crime.
In March 2012, when ‘Kikil’ was just 20 years old, some local media in Chetumal reported the arrest of Caro Monge for his apparent responsibility in the murder of Saúl Alonso Rey Soto, owner of a barbecue business who was shot, allegedly, for not paying the money corresponding to the bet of a cockfight.
According to newspaper reports at the time, the son of ‘El Pelo Chino’ offered one of his acquaintances 20,000 pesos in exchange for carrying out the murder.