According to a statement from the Mexican government, the Mexican government began sending nearly 30 top cartel agents to the United States on Thursday, including a notorious drug aristocrat, and U.S. officials have been seeking to bring 40 years to justice.
In the modern history of the drug war, handing over many important cartel figures to the United States is one of Mexico’s most important efforts to get traffickers to send traffickers across borders facing charges in U.S. federal courts.
The move comes as a high-level delegation from Mexico arrives in Washington to meet with senior U.S. officials to reach a security deal at the moment of tension between the two countries. The U.S. government refused to make any public comment immediately, but the Mexican Foreign Ministry issued a statement announcing the release of cartel numbers.
“This action is part of coordination, cooperation and bilateral reciprocity within the framework of respecting the sovereignty of the two countries,” the statement said.
Three people familiar with the matter said that those who were flying to the United States included Rafael Caro Quintero.
Mexico also released U.S. custody Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, the notorious former leader of Zetas Cartel, who was arrested in Mexico in 2013, the people said.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has put immense diplomatic and economic pressure on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, threatening to impose tariffs on her country and recommending military action on drug lords and cartel infrastructure within the borders of her country.
On Thursday, during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Mr. Trump was under pressure to say deadly drug movements across the southern border have not stopped.
“These drugs continue to pour into our country, killing hundreds of thousands of people,” he said. “We are losing a large amount of more than 100,000 people. I mean, dead.”
Nevertheless, Mexico’s decision to send wanted cartel agents to the United States was hailed as a major victory in the U.S. law enforcement circle and made it clear that Ms. Sinbaum plans to work with the Trump administration to combat cartels.
“This is an incredibly important moment and marks a real turning point,” said Ray Donovan, former head of operations at the Drug Enforcement Bureau. “It shows that President Sinbaum is willing to work with us to target and remove criminal organizations that have affected generations in the United States and Mexico.”
Especially Mr. Caro Quintero, DEA officials’ obsession with officials for decades was just an obsession. After being released from a Mexican detention center in 2013 due to legal and technical aspects, he returned to hide in a rural Sinaloa area and was recaptured by Mexican authorities in 2022.
He has been indicting several drug trafficking charges in Brooklyn Federal District Court, a person familiar with the matter said.
Mr. Trevinho, who was widely regarded as one of Mexico’s most violent cartel agents after Zetas’s broadcast call sign, helped refine the practice of using the Holocaust as information. He faces overlapping drug charges in federal court in Texas, including those in Austin and Laredo.
