Red Ribbon Week was created in memoriam to Enrique Camarena Salazar. Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Camarena joined the United States Marine Corps before joining the DEA at their Calexico, California office. In 1981, Salazar was assigned to the DEA’s Guadalajara office. Camarena infiltrated drug trafficking rings and was successful in breaking up many of them. One of his most well-known operations was conducted at the marijuana plantation known as “Ranch Bufalo,” which employed more than 3,000 farmers. The annual production from this farm was valued at $8 billion. This seizure infuriated the drug lords and once they discovered that Camarena was behind it, Camarena’s fate was sealed.

On February 7, 1985, while Camarena was enjoying lunch with his wife, police officers on drug lord Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo’s payroll kidnapped him. Camarena’s severely battered and tortured body was found on March 5 in a rural area outside the small town of La Angostura, Michocan, Mexico. This prompted Operation Leyenda, the largest DEA homicide investigation ever. Some of the suspects involved were found guilty, while others were acquitted.

Agent Camarena received numerous awards while he was with the DEA and he posthumously received the Administrator’s Award of Honor, the highest award given by the DEA. There is a yearly golf tournament in Camarena’s honor hosted by the DEA and the nationwide annual Red Ribbon Week was created in Camarena’s memory. Red Ribbon Week encourages school children and youths to avoid drug use.