Mexico extradited 29 high-profile drug gang characters, including famous medicine lord Rafael Caro Quintero, to the United States. Caro Quintero, accused of orchestrating the 1985 murder of US DEA agent Enrique” Kiki” Camarena, was among those sent to the US on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s administration ramped up pressure on Mexico to combat drug trafficking.
The exchanges took place as best Mexican leaders visited Washington, seeking to avoid Trump’s threat of imposing 25 % levies on Mexican goods. According to the Mexican authorities, the gang members were flown from various prisons in Mexico to eight US locations.
FILE PHOTO: A photograph of Rafael Caro Quintero in this undated flyer
A assault on big organizations
People of five of the six Mexican drug cartels that the Trump administration just referred to as “foreign criminal businesses” were among the personalised people. Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, a former leader of the Juarez Cartel and the brother of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, also known as” The Lord of the Skies,” was one of them who passed away in a botched plastic surgery procedure in 1997.
According to prosecutors in both locations, the people extradited face costs related to drug trafficking, crime, and other major crimes.
In honor of the valiant law enforcement officers who have dedicated their lives and careers to defending honest folks from the scourge of aggressive organizations, US Attorney General Pamela Bondi declared,” We will prosecute these thieves to the fullest extent of the law.”
Social and business relevance
The shift coincided with a visit to Washington by Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente, who, along with other major officials, met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump had demanded as a problem for imposing trade tariffs that Mexico get stricter measures against cartel, illegal immigration, and morphine production.
” This is historical, this has really never happened in the history of Mexico”, said Mike Vigil, former DEA chief of international operations. ” This is a big celebratory factor for the Drug Enforcement Administration”.
Targeting Caro Quintero
Caro Quintero had been a major concern for US law protection. After a Hispanic judge overturned his word for Camarena’s murder, the original Guadalajara gang head was released from prison in 2013. He later returned to drug smuggling, engaging in violent turf war in Mexico’s Sonora position before his re-arrest in 2022.
His abduction had been delayed, but Trump’s demands, such as the risk of taxes and cartel designations, made things happen more quickly. Additionally, a nonprofit organization supporting the Camarena community had petitioned the White House to request Caro Quintero’s abduction.
According to acting DEA director Derek Maltz,” Caro Quintero is held responsible for the terrible torture and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique” Kiki” Camarena,” this incident is really personalized for the DEA’s men and women.
According to sources, Mexico’s government, led by President Claudia Sheinbaum, omitted the official US-Mexico extradition agreement in an effort to bolster relations with Washington. Instead of just the drug trafficking accusations that were previously outlined in the repatriation request, this could allow US prosecutors to prosecute Caro Quintero for Camarena’s death.
” If he’s being sent to the US outside of a conventional abduction, and if Mexico didn’t spot any constraints, then he can get prosecuted for whatever the US wants”, said former federal cocaine attorney Bonnie Klapper.
Cartel retribution problems
Even among those extradited were Miguel Treviño Morales and Omar Treviño Morales, former rulers of the now-defunct Los Zetas gang, who had continued to run the son Northeast Cartel from captivity.
The extraditions were described by Mexican security researcher David Saucedo as” an important agreement” to the US, warning that the action might lead to a syndicate backlash against the Mexican government.
” Narcotic trafficking organizations will undoubtedly have a furious backlash against the Mexican state,” said Saucedo.
