The Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) and the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) announced that today 29 people who were detained in penitentiary centers in Mexico were extradited to the United States. Among the extradited were alleged drug traffickers, such as Rafael Caro Quintero.
According to the official statement, these individuals were sought by the United States for their ties to criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking and other crimes. Rafael Caro Quintero, leader of the Guadalajara Cartel, and two leaders of Los Zetas, Miguel Ángel and Omar Treviño Morales, are among the names mentioned as extradited.
Rafael Caro Quintero was arrested on July 15, 2022, in the municipality of San Simón, Sinaloa. He had an outstanding extradition order to the United States for the murder of Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena, a DEA agent, in the 1980s. Despite having been sentenced to 40 years in prison in Mexico for this crime, he was released in August 2013 due to a legal technicality.
After his release, Caro Quintero tried to avoid extradition arguing that he could not be tried twice for the same crime. However, judicial authorities determined that he could be sent to the United States to face a new trial for the murder of Camarena.
The extradition of Caro Quintero highlights the case of Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena, a DEA agent who was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in 1985 by members of the Guadalajara Cartel. Caro Quintero is indicated in the United States as responsible for ordering that murder, which occurred when he was the leader of the organization along with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo.
In May 2021, a Mexican court ruled that Caro Quintero could be extradited to the United States to face a new trial for the murder of Camarena. The court explained that the extradition was valid as there were crimes for which he had not been previously tried that justified the request for extradition by the United States.
