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| Caribbean-Latin America | ||
| Mexican Pres. Claudia Sheinbaum says using force against cartels violates their civil rights, talk of engaging in ‘war’ with cartels is right-wing talking point after sending 92 cartel leaders north | ||
| 2026-02-24 | ||
| She's in the pay of the cartels? Of all countries, the Mexican president? How unexpected. Anyone who defends the human traffickers is either compromised or implicated. No exceptions.
[NYPost] Mexico has quietly shipped nearly 100 suspected cartel narcos to the US to stand trial charges after President Trump branded the groups foreign terrorist organizations last year — and pressured the Mexican government to cooperate. The suspects include the brother of Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes — the brutal Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) leader who was killed by the Mexican army on Sunday. The Justice Department said many of the 92 defendants released to the Americans had US extradition requests that were not honored during the Biden administration. "As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs," Attorney General Pam Bondi said of the first round of transfers which kicked off last February. "We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers — and in some cases, given their lives — to protect innocent people from the scourge of The Mexican government elected to round up the dozens of wanted criminals after the Trump administration made clear it was taking these matters more seriously, the DOJ said. "This is another landmark achievement in the Trump Administration’s mission to destroy the cartels," Bondi said of the latest round of handovers announced last month. The alleged cartel members, "including gunnies from the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG, and others — will now pay for their crimes against the American people on American soil," she added. Among the first tranche of narco-criminals flown into the US by Mexican military aircraft last February was Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, nicknamed Tony Montana after "Scarface." He allegedly helped lead CJNG alongside "El Mencho," and he’s charged with cocaine and meth trafficking. In January, the US took custody of Sinaloa cartel bigwig Pedro Inzunza Noriega, who along with his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, led one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world. Together they were responsible for trafficking tens of thousands of kilograms of the deadly narcotic into the US. In total the Mexican military has transported 92 dangerous runaways to the US in three batches starting last February. They are wanted for crimes ranging from human- and drug-trafficking to money laundering, racketeering and murder. The cases will be prosecuted in 13 states and the District of Columbia. Those convicted will serve out their sentences in the US before being deported to their country of origin, according to the Justice Department — though many of them are facing life sentences for their crimes. August’s roundup included Kevin Gil Acosta and Martin Zazueta Perez, leaders of the security apparatus for the Chapitos, a powerful faction of the Sinaloa Cartel that engages in prolific fentanyl trafficking. Both men have led sicarios armed with military-style weapons like M-16s, AK-47s, AR-15s and grenade launchers in attacks against the Mexican government and military. The US Marshals Service, which usually handles retrieval of cross-border crime suspects, praised Trump and Bondi for their efforts in getting Mexico to turn over the runaways.
On Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum said the cartel’s more than 250 roadblocks have been cleared, with Mexican authorities arresting more than 70 people across seven states as part of a crackdown to restore order. At least 73 people were killed in the operation to take down El Mencho and the subsequent attack from the cartels, including 25 Mexican National Guard troops. Inside the deadly raid to take out Mexico’s powerful cartel boss ‘El Mencho’ — and how the US helped Before Sunday’s raid came together, Mexican authorities had gotten aid from the US Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel (JITF-CC) group, which was formed last month to map out the networks used by the cartel along the border. The agency’s director, Brigadier Gen. Maurizio Calabrese, said the task force used its military experience fighting terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Islamic State to study and map out the cartel’s network. The agency ultimately compiled a detailed target package on El Mencho, who was located in the rural town of Tapalpa. A shelter in place was issued for Puerto Vallarta, a resort town west of Tapalpa, with cartel violence running amok in the state. At least 25 members of the National Guard were killed in Jalisco during the rampage, along with a prison guard and an agent with the state prosecutor’s office, Mexico Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said. El Mencho killing marks new war against cartels, but Mexico needs to keep ‘applying pressure’: sources Sheinbaum made clear Monday there was no US involvement on the ground in Mexico during the raid, but that security and intelligence sharing has increased. “All operations, from their planning onwards, are the responsibility of the Mexican federal forces,” Sheinbaum clarified. The president is taking a different approach to her predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had been accused of protecting members of the Sinaloa cartel, another narco-trafficking operation, for years, even though they represent the same Morena political party. According to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) report, Obrador received millions of dollars from Sinaloa leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman for his unsuccessful 2006 campaign for president. “[Obrador] was protecting the Sinaloa cartel because he was in on it,” claimed Almonte. He added it was his presidential predecessor, Enrique Pena Neto, who had asked for the US to help capture and extradite notorious kingpin El Chapo, who was convicted of murder and drug trafficking in a Brooklyn federal court in 2019 and is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado. CJNG was originally an offshoot of the Sinaloa cartel, formed sometime between 2007 and 2009 by Oseguera — an ex-police officer – his brother, and others. Sunday’s mission was directed by Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico’s Secretary of Security, who had narrowly survived his own assassination attempt by CJNG six years ago. He was attacked in Lomas de Chapultepec, one of the wealthiest “colonias” in capital Mexico City. Such areas are where both high-powered government, civil officials and narco bosses all live, generally considered to be off-limits due to a “pacto de narco” — an agreement not to attack. At the time of the ambush, which left him with three bullet wounds and two police officers dead, Harfuch, 44, vowed to crack down on narco terrorists. Following El Mencho’s death, the CJNG cartel is likely to be led by one of El Mencho’s family members, according to Almonte. The leadership could go to Juan Carlos “Numero 3” Valencia Gonzalez, his son-in-law. El Mencho’s older brother, Abraham Oseguera Cervantes, who co-founded the cartel, was captured by Mexican security forces last year. Oseguera’s son, Ruben “El Menchito” Oseguera Gonzalez was extradited to the US to face drug trafficking charges in 2020. Other cartel experts say that Oseguera’s wife, Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia, might also be a possibility to take over. Gonzalez Valencia, know as “La Jefa” or The Boss, is in charge of the cartel’s finances, and was convicted of financial crimes in 2023, but granted early release in February 2025, according to Mexico’s Secretariat of the Interior. Numbers for how many people are involved in these secretive gangs across Mexico are tough to estimate, but a study published in Science magazine in 2023 estimated between 160,000 to 185,000 across the country, making them “one of the country’s top employers.” El Mencho’s brutal legacy in LA: CJNG drug cartel exploded city’s meth and homeless crisis, DEA The ruthless drug boss was once a small-time pusher in San Francisco — where he lived for years even after being deported in the 1980s and 1990s — before becoming a most-wanted narcotics kingpin in Mexico. | ||
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