Mexico sending major drug capos to US as Trump tariff threat looms

MEXICO CITY – Mexico on Feb 27 began to hand over to the US authorities major figures in the country’s criminal underworld, part of a surprise extradition of nearly 30 jailed convicts or others accused of ties to violent drug cartels.

Some are ageing gang leaders who decades ago reigned over international trafficking rings focused on cocaine and heroin. Others are much younger leaders engaged in moving large quantities of deadly fentanyl into the US more recently.

Mexico’s Attorney-General’s Office and the Security Ministry confirmed that officials were handing over 29 cartel figures to the US. The decision follows ongoing threats by US President Donald Trump to impose across-the-board tariffs on Mexican goods.

Jose Angel “El Guerito” Canobbio, a high-ranking figure in the Sinaloa Cartel’s fentanyl-trafficking Chapitos wing, is among those being turned over, according to a Mexican security source.

Reuters reported the unusual handover, Mexico’s largest in years, before Mexican security officials confirmed it in a statement, which did not include the names of the people being sent to the US.

But the group includes Rafael Caro Quintero, a veteran cartel boss convicted of murdering a US anti-narcotics agent in 1985, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Among the newer cartel figures are Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, brother of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lord, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who leads the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), sources said. The US authorities have offered a US$15 million (S$20.2 million) reward for any information leading to the arrest of Nemesio, known as “El Mencho”.

The US authorities say CJNG is one of the two major Mexican drug gangs, along with the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, responsible for pushing fentanyl onto US streets over the past few years.

The mass extradition in just one day marks a significant escalation compared with past years.

Between 2019 and 2023, Mexico extradited an average of 65 wanted criminal suspects a year to its northern neighbour, according to data provided by a US official.

Caro Quintero, long wanted by US officials, will arrive in New York on the evening of Feb 27, three sources familiar with the matter said. He has been indicted there on drug trafficking charges.

‘We will never forget’

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 US Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. It was one of the most notorious killings in Mexico’s bloody narco wars.

A former official briefed on the operation said the accused traffickers had been put onto eight planes headed for the US. Caro Quintero’s extradition means “the message goes forth – we will never forget if you harm or kill one of our agents”, the former official said.

Caro Quintero has previously denied involvement in Mr Camarena’s murder. He was released in 2013 on a technicality by a Mexican judge and returned to trafficking before he was recaptured by the Mexican authorities in 2022.

Some analysts see the extraditions as a gift to Mr Trump ahead of high-stakes trade talks. The US leader has said he will order 25 per cent tariffs on all Mexican goods as soon as next week, due to what his administration sees as insufficient progress in reducing fentanyl deaths and migration flows.

The duties, which could be ordered as soon as March 4, would mark a major economic hit to Mexico’s trade-dependent economy, which sends 80 per cent of its exports to US buyers. Top Mexican officials were in Washington on Feb 27 for meetings aimed at averting the tariffs.

A US 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.

Top leaders of the hyper-violent Los Zetas gang were also included in the group handed over to the US.

Specifically, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, known as Z-40, and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, known as Z-42, two suspected former leaders of the violent cartel, were being sent to the US, the Webb County Sheriff’s Office in Texas said. They are known for pioneering especially bloody tactics in Mexico’s longstanding drug wars, like dissolving rivals in acid, and were both detained by Mexican soldiers over a decade ago.

The Trevinos’ lawyer, Mr Juan Manuel Delgado, told Reuters he had not been officially notified of the extraditions.

Neither the White House nor the US State Department responded to requests for comment. REUTERS