Sign of goodwill

Mexico extradites powerful drug lords to the USA

Among the extradited drug lords is the former head of the notorious drug cartel Los Zetas, Oscar Omar Trevino (pictured here in an archive photo from 2015).

(Bild: AFP/Alfredo Estrella)

Shortly before a deadline to avoid trade tariffs expired, Mexico has now sent a signal of goodwill to US President Donald Trump: 29 criminals imprisoned for drug trafficking have been extradited to the USA, according to the Mexican authorities.

According to the US Department of Justice, this includes former cartel boss Rafael Caro Quintero. In the 1980s, he was as powerful in Mexico as the notorious gangster Pablo Escobar in Colombia.

"As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups," said Justice Minister Pamela Bondi. The US authorities are determined to dismantle drug cartels and other transnational crime syndicates.

According to Bondi's deputy Emil Bove, the renditions show how strong the US government's negotiating position is. The Mexican government, on the other hand, described the extraditions as part of its cooperation with the USA while respecting the sovereignty of both countries.

"Drug lord of the drug lords" extradited
According to the US Department of Justice, in addition to Caro Quintero, the former head of the notorious drug cartel Los Zetas, Miguel Ángel Treviño alias Z-40, his successor Omar Treviño, also known as Z-42, and the former leader of the Juárez cartel, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, were extradited. Never before has Mexico handed over so many powerful drug lords to the United States at once.

Caro Quintero had been on the US DEA's list of most wanted fugitives for four decades, said its acting head Derek S. Maltz. The former head of the Guadalajara cartel is said to have ordered the brutal murder of DEA official Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985.

In Mexico in the 1980s, Caro Quintero was known as the "narco de narcos", or "drug lord of the drug lords". He was ultimately sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison, of which he only served 28: In 2013, he was released due to alleged procedural errors.

The Mexican Supreme Court later overturned the decision, but by then Caro Quintero had already gone into hiding. The US State Department put a 20 million US dollar bounty on his head. He was finally arrested again in 2022.

Tariffs on goods from Mexico next week 
High-ranking Mexican officials are currently in Washington for talks on trade and security issues. The aim is to prevent the punitive tariffs announced by Trump. The Republican wants to impose the mandatory duties on goods from Mexico and Canada on March 4 if his demands are not met.

As justification, Trump wrote on his online mouthpiece Truth Social: "Drugs continue to flow into our country from Mexico and Canada in very high and unacceptable quantities."