Court to Define Extradition of Mario Cárdenas Guillén, Former Leader of the Gulf Cartel

"Ivan" for Borderland Beat

The following is a direct translation of an article written by journalist Ruben Moss for Milenio newspaper that was published January 13, 2022. 

A federal court will be the one to decide definitively if the former leader of the Gulf cartel, Mario Cárdenas Guillén, El M-1, is extradited to the United States, because not one of the ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) wanted to endorse the petition he presented to study his case.

The complainant is the brother of capo Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who created Los Zetas, the bloodiest criminal group that has operated in the country. Mario or M-1 brought a request for the resumption of jurisdiction to the Court, but since it was not accepted by the ministers, it was dismissed.

For this reason, after almost a year of his case being suspended, the First Collegiate Court in Criminal Matters of the Second Circuit must resolve the appeal for review filed by the drug trafficker. Mario Cárdenas challenged the ruling issued by Abigail Ocampo Álvarez, First District Judge for Amparo and Federal Trials in the State of Mexico, who gave the green light to hand it over to the Americans. In his lawsuit, the M-1 argued that the United States made its formal request for extradition "more than a year and a half", that is, it took more time than the extradition treaty establishes.

The judge stated that the delay alleged by the complainant did not cause him any harm, and much less meant an advantage for the Attorney General's Office (FGR). She indicated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) had already qualified the request as admissible, therefore, in terms of article 21 of the Extradition Law, she gave the intervention of the FGR.

“There is also no undue delay in the procedure, because on April 1, 2019, once the formal request for extradition was received, the District judge gave the corresponding procedure, so on the following April 4 he issued the order. respective, same that when completed, fully observed the provisions of article 24 of the special law in question," the sentence details.

Cárdenas Guillén said he was afraid of catching COVID-19, because the United States was considered at the time "the global epicenter of the pandemic." He mentioned that he is over 60 years old with hypertension and obesity, characteristics that he says place him as a person highly prone to being infected. However, Abigail Ocampo responded that the World Health Organization (WHO) has designed the guidelines that must be followed to avoid contagion. The judge made it clear that granting the extradition does not mean "an early death sentence" as the complainant estimates, due to the issue of the pandemic.

Photo taken near where Mario’s brother Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, alias “Tony Tormenta”, was killed by Navy Special Forces in November 2010.

Mario Cárdenas was arrested in September 2012, after an operation by the Special Forces of the Secretary of the Navy (SEMAR), in Altamira, Tamaulipas. Meanwhile, his brother Ezequiel Cárdenas, Tony Tormenta, was killed by the Navy Special Forces on November 5, 2010, after six months of intelligence work. The operation was carried out in Matamoros. On January 20, 2020, a federal judge issued his legal opinion in the sense that it was appropriate to hand him over to the Americans. The Federal District Court of Texas requires him to judge him for his alleged responsibility for crimes against health and criminal association.

Source: Ruben Moss for Milenio newspaper