Dozens of Mexican bosses extradited to the US

Mexico sent on Thursday surprisingly and to an unprecedented extent to 29 alleged drug traffickers to the United States, including the drug capo Rafael Caro Quintero, accused of murdering in 1985 an American anti -narcotics agent, already former leaders of the violent group Los Zetas.

The transfer occurs at a time when the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum negotiates with that of her American counterpart, Donald Trump, security agreements that avoid 25% tariffs to Mexican products from next Tuesday.

The Secretary of Security of Mexico said the transfers were made «within the framework of the International Cooperation Agreements» and confirmed several names that sources and media had mentioned earlier. He said the prisoners were required by authorities of several states of the neighboring country.

Among the highest profile envoys in the group, are also Quintero, aka «Don Rafa», founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Latin America during the 1980s, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, aka «El Viceroy», leader of the Juarez Cartel.

Both were sent to New York, while Miguel Ángel Treviño, aka «Z-40», former leader of Los Zetas and founder of the Northeast Cartel, as well as his brother Óscar Treviño, aka «Z-42», considered one of the main generators of violence in northern Mexico, they were transferred to Washington, the secretariat said.

The «Z-40» was arrested by Mexican authorities in 2013 and his brother, the Z-42 «, in 2015.

In the group there are also alleged criminals members of various criminal organizations in Mexico responsible for thousands of deaths in more than a decade, as well as disappearances.

Trump has been threatening to impose tariffs on Mexico if the Mexican government does not make illegal drug trafficking, especially fentanyl, and the large flows of irregular migrants seek to go to US territory.

Caro Quintero, 72, spent 28 in prison for the brutal murder and torture of the exagent of the United States anti -drug agency (DEA) Enrique «Kiki» Camarena, one of the most notorious murders in the bloody drug trafficking wars in Mexico.

The American State Department (DOJ) said later in a statement that he had secured the custody of the 29 convicts.

«Among the defendants put in custody in the United States today are leaders and administrators of drug cartels recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations and especially designated global terrorist,» said the DOJ.

«As President Trump has made clear, the cartels are terrorist groups and this Department of Justice is dedicated to destroying cartels and transnational bands,» said the attorney general, Pamela Bondi, cited in the text.

Antonio Oseguera, aka «Tony Montana», considered the main financial and logistics operator of the Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartel (CJNG) was sent to Washington, while José Jesús Méndez, aka «Chango», leader and founder of «The Michoacan family», to New York and José Guadalupe Tapia, alias «Lupe Tapia», lieutenant of the Sinaloa Cartel, Operator Rank of Ismael Zambada, aka «El Mayo», to Arizona.

Zambada, former leader of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, expects trial in the United States, where he was arrested in July after being transferred by plane from Mexican territory, in an operation that bothered Mexico and on which the Latin American nation has asked for more information from Washington.

In the morning, announcing the transfer of the Treviño brothers from Mexico, the webb sheriff’s office urged the population to «have caution when visiting Nuevo Laredo and other parts of Tamaulipas», state of the northeast of Mexico of which Los Zetas originally were originally.

Several massacres are attributed to the criminal group, some of them against dozens of migrants who sought to arrive irregularly to the United States.

The Treviño lawyer, Juan Manuel Delgado, told Reuters that it was not an «extradition» if not an «exile» or «expulsion» from the country since the processes of both to be extradited were in «judicial opinion phase.»

Delgado added that officially he has not been notified of this process.