Judge Approves Motion that Suspends Arrest Warrants in Mexico Against Tijuana Cartel Ex-Boss Eduardo Arellano Félix

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

Eduardo Arellano Félix, nicknamed "El Doctor" for being a medical doctor, was considered the financial brains of the Tijuana Cartel.

A judge in Toluca, State of Mexico, approved a motion that suspends any future arrest warrants issued against Eduardo Arellano Felix ("El Doctor"), a member of a powerful clan that once headed the Tijuana Cartel.

Eduardo will be released from US prison on 18 August 2021 and deported back to Mexico. However, he has no pending charges or arrest warrants in his home country despite the fact that he was one of Mexico's most-wanted drug kingpins.

In order for the precautionary measure to take effect, Eduardo must pay a guarantee of MXN$40,000 (about US$1,980), as requested by Augusto Octavio Mejía Ojeda, head of the Third District Court in Toluca. His legal team has a remote hearing on 21 June 2021, where a tribunal will decide on the validity of this motion.

At the age of 64, Arellano-Felix will return as a free man to Tijuana, one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico today.

The Tijuana Cartel holds presence in the area but is no longer the hegemonic group it used to be. Other groups like the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) currently compete for control of the Tijuana corridor.

Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) displaying Eduardo Arellano-Félix's release date: 18 August 2021. He is currently imprisoned in United States Penitentiary, Allenwood (USP Allenwood) in Pennsylvania.

Background

The Tijuana Cartel controlled the drug trade from its base in Tijuana, south of San Diego, between 1986 and the 2000s. At the height of its power in the 1990s, the cartel smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars in narcotics through a 100-mile-wide corridor stretching from Tijuana to Mexicali, south of Calexico, California.

The Arellano Felix brothers gained an added measure of notoriety when the Tijuana Cartel and its battle with the rival Juarez Cartel were dramatized in the 2000 film "Traffic," which earned four Oscars.

In its indictment against the brothers, the U.S. government said Eduardo was doing business with an illegal enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity (RICO), conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana, and money laundering.

Sources: Lopez-Doriga Noticias; Sol de Mexico; Borderland Beat archives