Mexico has sent drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a US DEA agent in 1985, across the border with 28 prisoners requested by the US government, a Mexican government official and other sources said Thursday. It comes as top Mexican officials are in Washington trying to head off the Trump administration's threatened 25% tariffs on all Mexican imports that would start Tuesday, the AP reports. Mexico's Attorney General's Office said in a statement that the 29 prisoners sent to the US on Thursday faced charges related to drug trafficking among other crimes.
Among those removed were two leaders of the Los Zetas cartel, Mexicans Miguel Treviño Morales and his brother Omar Treviño Morales, known as Z-40 and Z-42, the official confirmed. "This is historical, this has really never happened in the history of Mexico," said Mike Vigil, former DEA chief of international operations. "This is a huge celebratory thing for the Drug Enforcement Administration." Mexico's surprise handover of one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives was weeks in the making, per the AP.
Caro Quintero walked free in 2013 after 28 years in prison when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. The brutal murder marked a low point in US-Mexico relations. Caro Quintero, former leader of the Guadalajara cartel, had since returned to drug trafficking and unleashed bloody turf battles in the border state of Sonora until he was arrested by Mexican forces in 2022. The decision threatens to upend an unwritten understanding—with notable exceptions—that Mexican drug lords would serve sentences in Mexican prisons where they were often able continue to run their illicit businesses. "There will surely be a furious reaction by drug trafficking groups against the Mexican state," a Mexican security analyst said.
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