Mexico has extradited dozens of prisoners to the US, including a drug trafficker wanted since the 1980s, as president Donald Trump prepares to impose tariffs on the country.
President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government said it sent 29 wanted criminals to the US on Thursday, the same day her cabinet held high-level security meetings in Washington with secretary of state Marco Rubio to try to ward off a 25 per cent tariff on its goods.
Those extradited include Rafael Caro Quintero, who has been wanted by the US since 1985 when he was accused of the murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, both governments said.
Caro Quintero is a founder of the Guadalajara Cartel that trafficked marijuana, opioids and other drugs to the US.
Trump-Starmer Summit: British PM produces masterstroke of political theatre as he seeks to cement bromance
The sap rises and barriers go up as China prepares for the year’s biggest political event
Donald Trump revives Canada’s Liberals in electoral turnaround
Rejecting Trump’s call to annex their nation, Canadians rally around the flag
Among the men moved from prisons across Mexico were Miguel and Omar Trevino Morales, known as Z-40 and Z-42, who were leaders of the Zetas cartel based near the US border. The group was notorious for decapitating and dismembering its enemies. It gained a reputation as one of the most violent groups in Mexico’s history.
The US justice department on Thursday night said it had “secured the custody” of 29 defendants. It did not thank the Mexican government but noted that previous long-standing extradition requests had not been honoured and said several defendants could face the death penalty.
“Today’s actions are a consequence of a White House that negotiates from a position of strength, and an attorney general who is willing to lead the department with courage and ferocity,” said acting deputy attorney-general Emil Bove.
Mr Trump has increased pressure on Mexico to crack down on drug traffickers. The US designated six Mexico-based criminal groups as terrorist organisations last week, while some members of Trump’s team have floated US military intervention.
Mr Trump threatened Mexico and Canada with 25 per cent tariffs on their exports if they did not do more to prevent drugs and migrants crossing their shared borders with the US, with an extended deadline now due to end on Tuesday.
Ms Sheinbaum’s move comes as her team tries to convince Mr Trump they are cracking down on the groups while not contradicting or criticising her political mentor and predecessor, the former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his policy of “hugs not bullets”.
Her administration has increased seizures of drugs such as fentanyl and detentions of higher-ranking targets.
The Mexican government said Thursday’s meetings in Washington were “very positive” and that the two sides discussed drugs and arms trafficking as well as exchanging intelligence.
The extraditions are a win for Mr Trump, as some of those sent to the US had been held in Mexico for years with drawn-out legal processes preventing their extradition. It was unclear how the Mexican government cleared the existing legal hurdles, but it referred to the moves as “transfers” rather than “extraditions”.
Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, said the numbers were unprecedented.
“Never in the history of Mexico have they signed the extradition of 29 individuals at one time,” he said, adding that Caro Quintero was particularly significant.
“We have been trying to get our hands on him and bring him to justice here in the US,” he said. “This is a celebration for DEA and law enforcement.”
Mexicans cite insecurity as their number one concern in political polling, with the combined rate of homicides and disappearances still near record highs, but the extraction of high-level kingpins can lead to spikes in violence in the short term.
Residents of the northwestern city of Culiacán have been living through an all-out cartel turf war since the kidnapping and illegal extradition of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
