Mexico on Thursday began to hand over to U.S. authorities major figures in the country's drug gang underworld, part of a surprise extradition of nearly 30 jailed convicts or others accused of ties to violent drug cartels.
Mexico's attorney general's office and the security ministry confirmed that officials were handing over 29 suspected cartel members to the U.S. The decision follows ongoing threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose across-the-board tariffs on Mexican goods.
Reuters reported the unusual handover, Mexico's largest in years, before Mexican security officials confirmed it in a statement, which did not include the names of the people being sent to the U.S.
The group includes Rafael Caro Quintero, a veteran cartel boss convicted of murdering a U.S. anti-narcotics agent in 1985, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
It also includes newer cartel figures like Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, brother of Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who leads the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, sources said.
Between 2019 and 2023, Mexico extradited an average of some 65 wanted criminal suspects per year to its northern neighbor, according to data provided by a U.S. official.
Caro Quintero will arrive in New York on Thursday evening, three sources familiar with the matter said. He has been indicted there on drug trafficking charges.
Some analysts see the extraditions as a gift to Trump ahead of high-stakes trade talks. The U.S. leader has said he will order 25% tariffs on all Mexican goods by March 4, due to what his administration sees as insufficient progress reducing fentanyl deaths and migration flows.
A source familiar with the matter said Thursday's mass extradition showed "good faith" by the Mexican government.
Caro Quintero, in particular, has long been wanted by U.S. officials.
The 72-year-old co-founded the Guadalajara Cartel, once one of Latin America's most powerful drug groups. He spent 28 years in prison for the brutal murder and torture of former DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, one of the most notorious killings in Mexico's bloody narco wars.
Caro Quintero has previously denied involvement in Camarena's murder. He was released in 2013 on a technicality by a Mexican judge and returned to trafficking before he was recaptured by Mexican authorities in 2022.
Mexico on Thursday also extradited Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, known as Z-40, and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, known as Z-42, two suspected former leaders of the violent Los Zetas drug cartel, to the U.S., the Webb County Sheriff's Office in Texas said. They were detained by Mexico's military in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
The Trevinos' lawyer, Juan Manuel Delgado, told Reuters he had not been officially notified of the extraditions.
Neither the White House nor the U.S. State Department responded to requests for comment.
