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On February 27, 2025, Mexico released and handed over to U.S. custody 29 Mexican nationals charged with several criminal offenses[1] sought after by U.S. authorities.[2] The transfer took place in parallel to a high-level Mexican delegation arriving in Washington[3] to meet with senior U.S. officials on a security agreement at a moment of bilateral tensions. Due to the number, but —most importantly— because Rafael Caro Quintero was included in the group,[4] it has been hailed in American law enforcement circles as a major victory. It is being considered as a clear signal that Mexico’s president plans to cooperate with Pres. Trump’s administration —in the aftermath of designating drug trafficking cartels as terrorists[5] and in the midst of threatened U.S. tariffs for Mexican products.[6]
[1] Al Jazeera, Why has Mexico handed over drug cartel leaders to US? Who are they?, Feb. 28, 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/28/why-has-mexico-handed-over-drug....
[2] Matthew Cullen, Mexico Released Dozens of Cartel Figures Into U.S. Custody, The New York Times, Feb. 27, 2025.
[3] The Mexican delegation were the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs, Juan Ramón de la Fuente; of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch; of National Defense, Gen. Ricardo Trevilla; of the Navy, Adm. Raymundo Pedro Morales; Prosecutor General, Alejandro Gertz Manero; Mexican Ambassador to the U.S.A., Esteban Moctezuma; and Marcela Figueroa, Executive Secretary for the National Public System; and the Head of Unit (equivalent to Deputy Secretary) for North America, Roberto Velasco. They met Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Attorney General Pam Bondi; Senior Advisor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Troy Edgar; Senior Bureau Official Bureau Of Western Hemisphere Affairs Department of State (WHA-DOS) Amb. Michael Kozak; Deputy Assistant Secretary For Mexico And Canada WHA-DOS Katherine Dueholm; State Department's Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone; Chargé d’Affaires, U.S. Embassy in Mexico Mark Johnson; and Senior Advisor WHA-DOS Ricardo Pita. Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE), El Gobierno de México avanza en la colaboración binacional en materia de seguridad, Comunicado No. 030, Feb. 27, 2025, https://www.gob.mx/sre/prensa/el-gobierno-de-mexico-avanza-en-la-colaboracion-binacional-en-materia-de-seguridad-391672?idiom=es.
[4] Caro Quintero ordered the 1985 torture and killing of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki”, which caused U.S. authorities to carry out the U.S. transborder abduction from Mexican soil of Mexican Dr. Humberto Álvarez Macháin —charged with prolonging Camarena’s life in order to torture him. The transborder abduction was validated with U.S. v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 US 655 (1992). See Rodrigo Labardini, La Magia del Intérprete. Extradición en la Suprema Corte de Justicia de Estados Unidos: El Caso Álvarez Macháin, Editorial Porrúa, México, D.F., 2000, 231 pp. This led Mexico to suspend all cooperation with DEA. Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Press Bulletin B-1122, June 15, 1992. This in turn led to Mexico and U.S. signing a bilateral treaty to prohibit transborder abductions, Treaty to Prohibit Transborder Abductions, Nov. 23, 1994, United States-Mexico, in Michael Abbell and Bruno Ristau, 5 International Judicial Assistance (Criminal) Extradition A-676.3 (Supp. 1995). See Rodrigo Labardini, El Tratado entre México y Estados Unidos para Prohibir los Secuestros Transfronterizos, I(5) Revista Mexicana de Procuración de Justicia 79-94 (June 1997).
[5] Department of State (DOS), Terrorist Designation of International Cartels, Press Statement, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, Feb. 20, 2025.
[6] Al Jazeera, Trump tariffs of 25% on Canada, Mexico set to kick in March 4, Feb. 27, 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/2/27/trump-tariffs-of-25-on-canad....