 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2006 
Mexico Pledges to Extradite Drug Lords
 Marjorie Olster - Associated Press
| | Mexican President Vicente Fox addresses the 61st United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 19, 2006. (Mike Segar/Reuters) |
President Vicente Fox said Tuesday that Mexico is willing to extradite any drug lord in its custody wanted by the United States.
Fox said Mexico currently has 16 'big leaders' of drug gangs in jail along with 75,000 lower level members of various cartels.
'We are fighting hard and attaining very important results,' Fox said of Mexico's fight against drug dealers. He was speaking at a news conference in New York where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly.
The U.S. is believed to have requested the extradition of at least three suspected drug kingpins: Benjamin Arellano Felix of the Arellano Felix smuggling syndicate; Osiel Cardenas, reputed head of the Gulf Cartel; and Hector 'El Guero' Palma, a reputed leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
'We will extradite all of those who have pending matters with U.S. justice,' Fox said.
It was the first time Mexico's president had made such a sweeping commitment to send wanted drug lords to face charges in the U.S.
Mexico extradited its first major drug lord _ accused kingpin Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix _ to the United States over the weekend. Before that, Mexico had often balked at sending drug kingpins, arguing they should face justice in Mexico and refusing to send anyone to the U.S. who would face the death penalty.
Mexico's extradition of the man who once ran the Arellano Felix drug clan was a victory for U.S. officials who have been pushing Mexico to send them more drug lords.
After serving a 10-year sentence in Mexico, Arellano Felix was loaded into a helicopter to the Mexican border town of Matamoros, then flown across and handed over to Texas officials in Brownsville. He will be taken to California to face trial on charges stemming from a 1980 case in which he allegedly sold cocaine to an undercover police officer in the United States.
U.S. authorities requested Arellano Felix's extradition on June 2, 2003. A federal judge approved that request in 2004, but it took two years for the Foreign Relations Department approve the extradition.
Mexico has fought many extraditions in the past, arguing that suspects must face justice here first. It also has refused to extradite suspects who face the death penalty in other countries.
Capital punishment is illegal here, and a 1978 extradition treaty with the United States allows Mexico to deny extradition if a person faces the death penalty in another country.
In November, Mexico's Supreme Court removed an obstacle that had prevented many of the country's most notorious criminals from facing U.S. justice when it overturned a 4-year ban on the extradition of suspects facing life in prison.
Mexico last year extradited 41 suspected criminals to the United States, up from 34 in 2004; 31 in 2003; 25 in 2002; 17 in 2001; and 12 in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Calderon to Push Drug Extradition
Gunther Hamm - Reuters
Mexico's incoming president, Felipe Calderon, will use extradition to the United States as a major weapon in the war on rampant drug smuggling gangs, a senior aide said on Tuesday.
Mexico sent its first major drug cartel figure to face U.S. charges over the weekend, and Calderon plans to push ahead with the policy after he takes office on December 1.
"The issue of using extradition as a tool to fight drug traffickers will be honored by the president-elect," said Arturo Sarukhan, the conservative Calderon's main foreign policy adviser.
Outgoing President Vicente Fox said in a speech to the United Nations on Tuesday that Mexico would extradite more drug bosses to the United States after the handover on Saturday of major trafficker Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix.
Arellano Felix pleaded not guilty to drug charges in San Diego on Monday. He was first charged there in 1980 but posted bail and fled to Mexico.
He faces up to 30 years in a U.S. prison if convicted.
Based in Tijuana, the Arellano Felix brothers have led one of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels, although it has been weakened by a series of arrests in recent years.
Fox said 75,000 members of different drugs cartels were in Mexican jails.
Asked whether there would be more extraditions, Fox said, "Yes, we will extradite all of those who have pending matters with U.S. justice."
The U.S. Coast Guard arrested another brother, Javier Arellano Felix, in a dramatic operation at sea off Mexico's Pacific coast last month.
That arrest has apparently sparked a new turf war in Tijuana. Fifteen people have been murdered in the past four days.
Six bodies were found dumped in the city on Tuesday. Three showed signs of torture, and the other three were shot in the head, their hands tied behind their backs.
About 1,500 people were killed last year in the brutal drug war in Mexico. The violence has raged on this year, including a string of drug gang beheadings in the western state of Michoacan.
Fox also said Mexico would keep working with the United States on immigration issues, saying it was vital to set conditions for orderly and legal migration while boosting the economy in Mexico so fewer people are driven to seek a better life across the border.
Immigration legislation was a major pledge of his administration and one that remains unfinished as he prepares to hand over to Calderon, who served under him as energy minister and is from the same conservative ruling party.
(Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons in New York) |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us