Image by Authorities in Mexico extradited an unprecedented number of infamous drug traffickers wanted in the United States in a move that is unlikely to significantly alter the country’s criminal landscape, even while it raises questions about the separation of powers in Mexico.
On February 27, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and Security Ministry (Secretaría de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana – SSPC) announced it had sent 29 individuals wanted for organized crime-related crimes like drug trafficking to the United States.
The move coincided with high-level discussions in Washington, D.C. between officials from both countries that were aimed at addressing bilateral security concerns.
The US Justice Department confirmed the extraditions in a statement.
“We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers – and in some cases, given their lives – to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels,” US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in the statement.
To put this in perspective, Mexico extradited an average of 65 wanted criminals to the United States between 2019 and 2023, according to data accessed by Reuters.
In other words, the Mexican government sent in a single day nearly half of all the wanted suspects they typically send across the border during the course of an entire year.
The list read like a who’s who of the country’s most notorious organized crime leaders. Topping them all was Rafael Caro Quintero, the former Guadalajara Cartel leader and so-called “Narco of Narcos” who became a constant thorn in the side of US authorities as he avoided extradition for 40 years following the murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique “Kiki” Camerana in 1985.
SEE ALSO: Mexico Crime Profile: Criminal Groups, Security Forces, Prisons, and the Judicial System
Another feature of the list were the Treviño-Morales brothers, Miguel and Omar, known as “Z40” and “Z42,” respectively. They led the ruthless Zetas, a paramilitary force that broke away from their progenitors, the Gulf Cartel, and terrorized Mexico during the 2010s.
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, alias “El Viceroy,” the former Juárez Cartel leader and brother of Amado Carillo Fuentes, alias “The Lord of the Skies,” was also extradited.
However, not all of those sent to the United States had been so far removed from Mexico’s criminal landscape. Mexican security forces captured José Ángel Canobbio Inzunza, alias “El Güerito,” on February 19 in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
He served as security chief for Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, one of the leaders of the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
And Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “Tony Montana,” and the brother of Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG) leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” was arrested in 2022 for helping run the group alongside his brother.
SEE ALSO: Mexico Cartels: The Sinaloa Cartel to the ELN: Ally or Subordinate?
InSight Crime Analysis
The mass extraditions are, without question, historic, but they are unlikely to drastically alter the nature of Mexico’s organized crime landscape.
Even since he walked free from a Mexican prison in 2013, Caro Quintero had largely remained in the shadows amid accusations that he collaborated with the Caborca Cartel until his July 2022 re-capture.
His arrest came in response to increased US pressure at that time, and his extradition may now placate US President Donald Trump amid ongoing threats of tariffs and the designation of several Mexican crime groups as terrorist organizations.
Other notable former criminal leaders, such as the Gulf Cartel’s José Alberto García Vilano, alias “La Kena,” the once influential CJNG leader Erick Valencia Salazar, alias “El 85,” or leading Familia Michoacana figure José Jésus Méndez Vargas, alias “El Chango,” have all since been replaced within the ranks of their respective groups.
However, the series of extraditions do raise questions about the separation of power and judicial independence in Mexico.
Juan Manuel Delgado, the lawyer for both Treviño-Morales brothers, told reporters February 27 that the extradition of his clients should be “impossible” because authorities had not gone through the appropriate judicial process whereby a judge reviews the request and makes a final determination.
A judge was also in the process of considering a new appeal from Caro Quintero’s legal team to postpone his extradition, as had been done nearly half a dozen times before, but a final ruling had reportedly not been made by the time he was sent to the United States. As such, the appeal was ultimately rejected.
The unconventional nature of the mass extraditions may spark concerns about whether or not Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum moved forward with the decision without first allowing the courts to intervene.
It also remains to be seen if any of those extradited will cooperate with prosecutors to secure lighter sentences, a common, albeit highly controversial, tactic used in the US justice system.
In the end, it may not matter. Arturo Sarukhán, the former Mexican Ambassador to the United States under former President Felipe Calderón, said in a post on X that Sheinbaum’s maneuvering was ultimately the “correct decision” for her government in the face of Trump’s tactics.
