An Overview of All 44 Extraditions Under President López Obrador

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat (formerly "MX")

Mexico has opted for extradition as a means to keep the United States “happy” on the issue of the fight against drug trafficking. The Mexican government has turned over 44 suspected criminals, most of them from the Sinaloa Cartel.

In prison there are 61 other targets of the US justice system, some of which they have already formalized their extradition request. Among the top cartel bosses US authorities want is Rafael Caro Quintero, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, and Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes.

But these figures have not been arrested, along with 25 more fugitives the US is request from Mexico. Writs of amparo motions in Mexico generally extend the extraditable persons in Mexican soil.

For the Mexican government, one of the formulas to get along with its northern neighbor, in addition to helping contain migrants from the southern border, has been to extradite leaders and members of the most reputable criminal organizations without putting as many obstacles as there were in previous administrations. Unlike the past administrations, which have been punctilious in aspects of legality, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has been quite flexible.

Note from Borderland Beat: This picture issued by Zeta Tijuana newspaper shows José de Jesús Méndez Vargas ('El Chango') as Ramon Moreno Madrigal ('El Llavero').

López Obrador had an excellent relationship on the issue with former US President Donald Trump, but in Joe Biden's short term, he has already handed over two Mexican prisoners, one of them considered a top player in organized crime that operated in both countries: Raúl Flores Hernández "El Tío". El Tio was a criminal who skillfully carried out negotiations for both the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

In two years and three months, the Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE) and the Attorney General's Office (FGR) have delivered to the U.S. Marshall the following criminals:

* 10 members of the Sinaloa Cartel

* 6 of the CJNG

* 3 of the Arellano Felix or Tijuana Cartel (CAF)

* 3 of the Beltrán Leyva Organization

* 3 of the Juárez Cartel

* 3 leaders of Los Zetas cells

From the following criminal groups, one person was extradited: Gulf Cartel, La Familia Michoacana, Los Rojos, Los Laredo, Los Granado, and Barrio Azteca.

In addition, there is a list of 25 extraditable persons who have not been apprehended by Mexican authorities, headed by Rafael Caro Quintero, the alleged perpetrator of the kidnapping and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in 1985.

There are 13 Sinaloa Cartel members currently pending to be arrested, as well as eight from the CJNG, two from the Beltrán Leyva, one from the old Guadalajara Cartel, and another independent or whose criminal affiliation was not expressed.

13 inmates are considered independent, including the former governor of Tamaulipas, Eugenio Hernández Flores. There is also one inmate from each of the following organizations: Los Caballeros Templarios, Barrio Azteca, Los Granados, Guerreros Unidos and the WSK gang from Los Angeles.

For the current Mexican government administration, whose criminal policy does not have the war against drug trafficking as a priority, it has been easy to resolve that the best way to give stability and governability to the country is to get rid of those priority objectives to the US.

Those Extradited

Although extraditions began slowly during the first months of the government of López Obrador, by April 2019 the extradition of Óscar Adán Rodríguez Guevara, alias “El Güero Chihuahua”, from the CAF, was record.

On July 12 of that year, Mexico delivered Jesús Navarrete Castelán, alias "El Papayo", a member of the Los Rojos criminal group.

And on the 30th of that same month, the FGR extradited the former member of the Sinaloa Cartel, Nayar Josué Beltrán Campos, alias “Ingeniero”. All of these suspects were extradited for their outstanding drug charges.

Those first months of the administration were calculating. However, the acceleration in the matter of extraditions with the US began on October 27, 2019, when Mexico delivered René Roque Martínez, an alleged sexual abuser of two minors in Oakland. Two days later, the governor of Coahuila, Jorge Juan Torres López, accused on charges of criminal association to commit money laundering, bank fraud and fraud, was extradited. On November 17, it was the turn of Luis Arellano Romero -- man close to Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán -- was extradited to Texas.

In December of that year there were seven extraditions. The first, on the 17th, was of Noel “El Flaco” Salgueiro Nevarez, operator of “El Chapo” in Chihuahua. Then six deliveries would arrive on the 24th, among those extradited was Caros Ávalos Herrera and / or Gustavo Rivera Martínez, the famous “P-1” from CAF. He was sent along with: Ismael Zambada Imperial "El Mayito Gordo", son of kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada; Mario Núñez Meza "M-10"; José María Guizar Valencia “El Z43”; José Odilón Ramírez Perales "El Kuno"; Francisco Hernández García "El Panchillo" and Juan Carlos Juárez Torres.

On January 14, 2020, eight men were extradited from the Juárez, the Gulf, Los Zetas and Los Laredo cartels: Gilberto Barragán “El Tocayo”, wanted in Washington; Benjamín Valero or Mario Hernández Cázares "El Cachitas"; Pedro Sánchez "El Sol"; Luis Carlos Vázquez Barragán "El 20"; William de Jesús Torres Solórzano and Ismael Laredo Donjuan “Don Juan”. All of them alleged drug traffickers.

Jorge “G” and Roberto “A”, independent drug distributors on US soil, were also handed over.

The same month of January, but on the 20th, the FGR extradited José Sánchez Villalobos “Señor de los Túneles”, another operator of the Sinaloa Cartel. On the 26th there were another six transfers to the other side of the border. From the same Sinaloan clan, Jorge Antonio Ceniceros Román and Mario Hidalgo Arguello “Nariz” changed jail; Jaime Granados Rendón, leader of the gang of human traffickers that bears his surname; Martín Pérez Marrufo, from the Barrio Azteca band; Ramón Moreno Madrigal “El Llavero”, cousin of the former leader of La Familia Michoacana, Nazario Moreno González, “El Chayo”; and the drug dealer Nelson Matías Renteria Villarreal.

On February 9, the national government handed over five subjects for extradition: Apolinar Dagio Huerta “El Poly”; Jesús Contreras Arceo "El Canasto"; Jesús Rosario Favela Astorga "Mayonnaise" or "Chuy"; and Peter "A". On the 21st, the FGR extradited Rubén Oseguera González “El Menchito”, son of the leader of the CJNG, “El Mencho”, in a momentous decision. On March 1, Ramón Villarreal Hernández “El Mon”, operator of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, was crossed to the American side; on the 17th, Heriberto Zazueta Godoy “El Capi Beto”, from the Sinaloa Cartel, was transferred to California; and on the 23rd of the same month, Víctor Zapién Venegas “Domingo”, from the CJNG, was extradited.

From then on, the frequency dropped a bit, but there have been extraditions. On June 14, Mexico handed over Felipe Cabrera Sarabia, alias "El Ingeniero", operator of "El Chapo" Guzmán. On November 1, they also extradited José Pineda Arzate "El Avispón", financial operator of the CJNG. On the 8th, U.S. Marshall took charge of Gerónimo Gámez García “El Primo”, from the Beltrán Leyva Organization.

On January 10, 2021, the FGR extradited Juan Padilla Vizcarra, alias “El Cherry”, a notable member of the CJNG. On February 8, Mexico extradited Raúl Flores Hernández, alias “El Tío”, wanted for his alleged relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG.

Those Pending

Among the criminals pending to be extradited, there are still people in Mexico of very high criminal caliber, either because of their leadership in criminal groups, because of their kinship with other bosses, because of the seriousness of their actions, or because of the government's inability to arrest and/or extradite them.

Those extraditable at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 ('Altiplano') include Mario Cárdenas Guillén, brother of the former leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cardenas Guillen. He is imprisoned in Mexico and wanted for drug charges in Texas. In addition, there is Ángel Humberto Chávez Gastélum “Don Ángel”, wanted for multiple charges in California. He is also imprisoned in Mexico.

Other inmates in Altiplano with pending extradition requests include Servando Gómez Martínez “La Tuta”, from Los Caballeros Templarios; Fernando Sánchez Arellano "The Engineer", from the CAF; Jorge Iván Gastélum Ávila “El Cholo Iván”, from the Sinaloa Cartel; Abigael González Valencia "El Cuini", from the CJNG and Los Cuinis; Carlos Arturo Quintana "El 80", from La Línea; Jaime Durán González “El Hummer”, from Los Zetas; Édgar Pineda Celis “El Chato”, from Guerreros Unidos; and the couple Antonio Laredo Donjuan and Mercedes Barrios Hernández, from Los Laredo.

In various prisons in Mexico there are other criminals who, formally or preliminarily, have already been requested by the US: Jesús Ricardo Patrón Sánchez "El H-3", brother of Juan Francisco "El H-2", splinters from the Beltrán Leyva clan; Enrique Arballo Talamantes "El Junior", from La Linea; Eugenio Hernández Flores, former governor of Tamaulipas; J. Jesús Méndez Vargas “El Chango”, from La Familia Michoacana; the brothers Martín, Héctor and Sergio, surnames Avendaño Ojeda, of the Sinaloa Cartel; and Édgar Alejandro Herrera Pardo “Cabo 8”, from the CJNG.

Among those not arrested, and among those who weigh important rewards offered by the US government, are Rafael Caro Quintero, former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel, who was released due to a judicial failure on August 9, 2013; Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel; Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes "El Mencho", head of the CJNG, in coordination with his brothers-in-law "Los Cuinis"; and the children of “El Chapo” Guzmán, Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán López, as well as Jesús Alfredo and Archivaldo Iván Guzmán Salazar.

The three fugitives who escaped on January 29, 2020, from a Mexixco City penitentiary before being extradited to the US are Víctor Félix Beltrán “El Vic”, Luis Fernando Meza González and Yael Osuna Navarro, of the Sinaloa Cartel.

In addition, neither has Fausto Isidro Meza Flores "El Chapo Isidro", of the Los Mazatlecos group, who operate for the Beltrán Leyva in Sinaloa and Nayarit, has been arrested.

List of those extradited under President AMLO. Left column is for the criminals' names, center column is for their criminal group and/or crime, and right column is for their extradition date.

Fugitive criminals with pending extradition requests. Left column for their names, right column for their criminal group and/or crimes.

Inmates in Mexico with pending US extraditions; left column for names, right column for criminal group and/or crimes.

More inmates in Mexico with pending US extraditions; left column for names, right column for criminal group and/or crimes.

Source: Zeta Tijuana