Mexico expels 26 cartel figures wanted by US officials in deal with White House

Mexico has extradited 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as US authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks sending drugs across the border.

Authorities sent 26 prisoners who were wanted in the US for ties to drug-trafficking groups, Mexico’s attorney general’s office and security ministry said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The transfers were carried out after a promise from the US justice department that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty in any of the cases.

Those being handed over to US custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis” a group closely aligned with notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel or CJNG. Another person, Roberto Salazar, is accused of participating in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles county sheriff’s deputy, the person said.

It marked the second time in months Mexico had expelled cartel figures accused of narcotics smuggling, murder and other crimes amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to curb the flow of drugs across the border. In February, Mexico handed over to US authorities 29 cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a US DEA agent in 1985.

Those transfers came days before 25% tariffs on Mexican imports were to take effect. Late last month, Donald Trump spoke with Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum and agreed to put off threatened 30% tariffs for another 90 days to allow for negotiations.

Sheinbaum has shown a willingness to cooperate more on security than her predecessor, specifically being more aggressive in pursuit of Mexico’s cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico’s sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Trump and others of intervention by the US military.

The Trump administration made dismantling dangerous drug cartels a key priority, designating CJNG and seven other Latin American organized crime groups foreign terrorist organizations.

Abigael González Valencia is the brother-in-law of CJNG leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, a top target of the the US government. He was arrested in February 2015 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and had been fighting extradition to the United States since then.

Alongside his two brothers, he led “Los Cuinis”, which financed the the founding and growth of the CJNG, one of the most powerful and dangerous cartels in Mexico. CJNG traffics hundreds of tons of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States and other countries and is known for extreme violence, murders, torture and corruption.

One of his brothers, José González Valencia, was sentenced in Washington’s federal court in June to 30 years in a US prison after pleading guilty to international cocaine trafficking. Jose González Valencia was arrested in 2017 under the first Trump administration at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under a fake name.