By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MARÍA VERZA
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexico has expelled 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as American authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks sending drugs across the border, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The cartel leaders and other prominent figures were being flown from Mexico to the U.S. on Tuesday, the person said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation that was still ongoing.
Those being handed over to U.S. custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation or CJNG. Another person, Roberto Salazar, is accused of participating in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, the person said.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and Security ministry confirmed the transfers, which were carried out after a promise from the U.S. Justice Department that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty in any of the cases.
It’s the second time in months Mexico has expelled cartel figures accused of narcotics smuggling, murder and other crimes amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to curb the flow of drugs across the border. In February, Mexico handed over to American authorities 29 cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985.
Those transfers came days before 25% tariffs on Mexican imports were to take effect. Late last month, President Donald Trump spoke with Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and agreed to put off threatened 30% tariffs for another 90 days to allow for negotiations.
Sheinbaum has shown a willingness to cooperate more on security than her predecessor, specifically being more aggressive in pursuit of Mexico’s cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico’s sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Trump and others of intervention by the U.S. military.
The Trump administration made dismantling dangerous drug cartels a key priority, designating CJNG and seven other Latin American organized crime groups foreign terrorist organizations.
Abigael González Valencia is the brother-in-law of CJNG leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, a top target of the the U.S. government. He was arrested in February 2015 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco and had been fighting extradition to the United States since then.
Alongside his two brothers, he led “Los Cuinis,” which financed the the founding and growth of the CJNG, one of the most powerful and dangerous cartels in Mexico. CJNG traffics hundreds of tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the United States and other countries and is known for extreme violence, murders, torture, and corruption.
One of his brothers, José González Valencia, was sentenced in Washington’s federal court in June to 30 years in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to international cocaine trafficking. Jose González Valencia was arrested in 2017 under the first Trump administration at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under a fake name.
Verza reported from Mexico City