Mexico has expelled 26 alleged high-ranking cartel members to the United States, in its latest deal with the administration of President Donald Trump.
The transfer was confirmed by a joint statement from the Mexican attorney general’s office and its security ministry on Tuesday.
The statement said that the US Justice Department had sought the extradition and that it had given guarantees that the death penalty would not be levied against any of those prosecuted.
The transfer comes as the Trump administration continues to exert pressure on Mexico to take more action against criminal gangs involved in drug smuggling and human trafficking.
Part of that pressure campaign has come in the form of tariffs, with certain Mexican exports to the US now taxed at a higher rate.
Trump has described the import tax as necessary to hold Mexico “accountable” for the “extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs”.
In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has struck a careful balance when dealing with Trump, cooperating on some security issues, while drawing clear lines when it comes to her country’s sovereignty. That has included vehemently opposing any US military intervention on Mexican soil.
Still, US media reported last week that Trump has secretly signed an order directing the military to take action against drug-smuggling cartels and other criminal groups from Latin America, which could presage the deployment of US forces both domestically and abroad.
The move on Tuesday was the second time in recent months that Mexico has expelled alleged criminal gang members wanted by the US.
In February, Mexico extradited 29 alleged cartel figures, including Rafael Caro Quintero, who is accused of killing a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent in 1985.
That deal came as Trump threatened to impose blanket 25-percent tariffs on Mexican imports, but the scope of that tariff threat was later pared down.
Currently, the US imposes a 25-percent tariff on Mexican-made cars and products not covered under a pre-existing free trade accord, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Mexico also faces a 50-percent tax on its steel, aluminium and copper products.
But at the end of July, Trump agreed to extend a tariff exemption for goods that fall under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement for 90 days.
The Associated Press news agency reported that Abigael González Valencia, the leader of “Los Cuinis”, a drug-trafficking group closely aligned with the notorious Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG), was among those expelled to the US in the latest deal.
The Trump administration took the unorthodox move of designating the CJNG and seven other Latin American crime groups as “foreign terrorist organisations” upon taking office.
Valencia is the brother-in-law of CJNG leader Nemesio Ruben “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, who is considered one of the most wanted people in Mexico and the US.
Valencia was arrested in February 2015 in Mexico and had since been fighting extradition to the US.
Another individual, Roberto Salazar, stands accused of participating in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, a source told the news agency.
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