MEXICO CITY-Mexico on Thursday handed over major figures in the country’s criminal underworld to U.S. authorities, part of a surprise extradition of nearly 30 jailed convicts or others accused of ties to violent drug cartels.
Some are aging gang leaders who reigned over international trafficking rings decades ago focused on cocaine and heroin. Others are much younger leaders engaged in moving large quantities of deadly fentanyl into the U.S. more recently.
Mexican authorities confirmed officials handed over 29 cartel figures to the U.S. The decision follows ongoing threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose across-the-board tariffs on Mexican goods, which he said on Thursday would take effect on March 4.
Reuters reported the unusual handover, Mexico’s largest in years, before the U.S. and Mexican governments announced it.
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi, in a written statement, confirmed the U.S. had taken the 29 defendants into custody.
At least two of the defendants – including Rafael Caro Quintero, who is alleged to have been among those responsible for the 1985 murder of a U.S. anti-narcotics agent – will be arraigned on Friday in Brooklyn federal court, a person familiar with the matter said.
Also handed over are newer narcos such as Antonio Oseguera Cervantes – the brother of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lord, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who leads the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
U.S. authorities have offered a $15 million reward for any information leading to the arrest of Nemesio, known as “El Mencho.”
U.S. authorities say CJNG is one of the two major Mexican drug gangs, along with the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, responsible for pushing fentanyl onto U.S. streets over the past few years.
A high-ranking figure in the wing of the Sinaloa Cartel led by the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, Jose Angel “El Guerito” Canobbio, was also among those turned over.
The mass extradition marks a significant escalation compared to past years.
Between 2019 and 2023, Mexico extradited an average of some 65 wanted criminal suspects per year to its northern neighbor, according to data provided by a U.S. official.
‘WE WILL NEVER FORGET’
Caro Quintero was sent to New York, where he has been indicted on drug-trafficking charges.
The 72-year-old co-founded the Guadalajara Cartel, once one of Latin America’s most powerful drug groups. He spent 28 years in prison for the brutal murder and torture of former DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, one of the most notorious killings in Mexico’s bloody narco wars.
The accused traffickers were sent to eight destinations across the U.S., including Phoenix, Chicago, Houston and Washington, Mexico said.
Caro Quintero’s extradition means “the message goes forth – we will never forget if you harm or kill one of our agents,” a former U.S. official who was briefed on the operation said.Caro Quintero has previously denied involvement in Camarena’s murder. He was released in 2013 on a technicality by a Mexican judge and returned to trafficking before he was recaptured by Mexican authorities in 2022.
Some analysts see the extraditions as a gift to Trump ahead of high-stakes trade talks. The U.S. leader has said he will order 25% tariffs on all Mexican goods due to what his administration sees as insufficient progress reducing fentanyl deaths and migration flows.
The duties would mark a major economic hit to Mexico’s trade-dependent economy, which sends 80% of its exports to U.S. buyers.
Top Mexican officials were in Washington on Thursday for meetings aimed at averting the tariffs, with Mexico saying security officials had agreed to take measures in coming weeks to clamp down on fentanyl and arms trafficking, with the latter being a key demand from Mexico.
A U.S. source familiar with the matter said the mass extradition showed “good faith” by the Mexican government.
It was not immediately clear if Mexican officials followed formal extradition procedures, or if they opted to bypass any legal or diplomatic requirements.
In its statement confirming the handover, the Mexican government only called the move a “transfer.”
Two suspected former leaders of the hyper-violent Zetas gang were also included in the group – Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, known as Z-40, and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, known as Z-42.
They are known for pioneering especially bloody tactics in Mexico’s longstanding drug wars such as dissolving rivals in acid, and were both detained by Mexican soldiers more than a decade ago.
The Trevinos’ lawyer, Juan Manuel Delgado, told Reuters he had not been officially notified of them being sent out of the country.
Reuters