Latest news Mexico extradites powerful drug kingpin to US
Shortly before the expiry of a deadline to avoid trade tariffs, Mexico is sending a signal of goodwill to US President Donald Trump: 29 criminals arrested for drug trafficking have been extradited to the USA, the Mexican authorities have announced. According to the US Department of Justice, this includes former cartel boss Rafael Caro Quintero. He was as powerful in Mexico in the 1980s as the notorious gangster Pablo Escobar was in Colombia.
28.02.2025, 08:15
SDA
"As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups," said Justice Minister Pamela Bondi. The US authorities are determined to dismantle the 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.
The "drug lord of drug lords" sent to the USA
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: he was released in 2013 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 to come into force 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 compulsory levies on goods from Mexico and Canada on March 4 if his demands are not met. He wrote on his online mouthpiece Truth Social: "Drugs continue to flow into our country from Mexico and Canada in very large and unacceptable quantities."
