Katie Harris examines fentanyl, a synthetic prescription drug 100 times more potent than morphine. Video / NZ Herald / Getty / NZ Drug Foundation
Mexico has extradited some of its most notorious imprisoned drug lords to the United States in a bid to avert sweeping tariffs, including a cartel kingpin wanted for decades over the murder of a US undercover agent.
Rafael Caro Quintero, who allegedly ordered the kidnap, torture and killing of DEA special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in the 1980s, and several other top gang figures were among 29 suspects handed over.
Caro Quintero was on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of 10 most-wanted fugitives until his capture in 2022.
The surprise extraditions come as Mexico scrambles to seal a deal with Washington to avoid being hit with trade duties that Trump has linked to illegal migration and drug flows.
It follows Trump’s designation of eight Latin American drug trafficking groups, including six Mexican cartels, as terrorist organisations.
“As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi, the federal Government's chief law enforcement officer, says the Trump administration is serious about destroying cartels and transnational gangs, Photo / File
“We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honour of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers and in some cases, given their lives, to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels.”
The handover of so many suspects at the same time was “historic,” Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said.
In the past, Mexico would extradite only a few suspects at once, he said, adding: “They’re certainly hoping that it will have a positive impact on the tariff negotiations”.
The DEA was “celebrating” Caro Quintero’s extradition in particular, he said.
The suspects also included the former leaders of the ultra-violent Zetas cartel, Omar and Miguel Angel Trevino Morales.
Former Juarez cartel boss Vicente Carrillo and a brother of Nemesio Oseguera, head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organisations, were also on the list.
‘National security threat’
The announcement came as a high-level Mexican delegation, including the foreign, defence and security ministers, visited Washington for talks with counterparts, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The two countries agreed to take an unspecified “series of coordinated actions” to tackle drug trafficking, the Mexican Government said.
The aim was to reduce fentanyl deaths as well as the illegal trafficking of firearms, it said.
A member of Mexico’s National Guard directs traffic near a crime scene in Celaya, Mexico, on Aug. 24, 2022. Photo / Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to collaborate with Washington, while rejecting any “invasion” of her country’s sovereignty.
She has repeatedly expressed optimism that tariffs between the two countries can be avoided, and said this week she hoped to speak to Trump to seal a deal.
Shortly after taking office, Trump announced duties of up to 25% on Mexican imports, citing illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl.
He issued a last-minute suspension until March 4, after Sheinbaum agreed to deploy 10,000 more troops to the Mexico-US border to tackle illegal migration and drug smuggling.
Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in the White House last month, saying the cartels “constitute a national security threat beyond that posed by traditional organised crime”.
The move has raised speculation about possible military action against the cartels, something Sheinbaum has said she would oppose.
Last week, Sheinbaum confirmed the United States had been operating drones spying on Mexican cartels as part of a collaboration that has existed for years.
Mexican authorities have recently announced a series of major drug seizures and announced the arrest last week of two prominent members of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was among the groups designated terrorist organisations by Trump.
