By: The opinion Posted Jul 25, 2023, 10:47 am EDT
On July 15, 2022, the Mexican authorities dealt one of the strongest blows to organized crime in recent years, by capturing the drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero in the state of Sinaloa.
Since then, the founder of the Guadalajara cartel He remains in a maximum security prison while he maintains a legal battle to avoid his extradition to the United States, although his transfer could take place very soon.
This was stated by George Papadopoulos, second in command of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at a dependency event held in May and broadcast via the Internet.
“Rafael Caro Quintero is currently awaiting extradition from Mexico. Us We hope that he will be extradited early next year. so that he can face justice here in the United States,” said the official during the celebration of 50 years of work for the anti-drug agency.
It should be remembered that it was in March of this year, when the Joe Biden administration requested the formal extradition of Caro Quintero, but the so-called “Narco de Narcos” has processed a series of injunctions to avoid facing US justice for various charges, including the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarenaregistered in 1985.
In the extradition request, the United States also requires the Sinaloan drug trafficker to face three other drug trafficking proceedings before the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York, before the Federal Court of the Southern District of Texas, and before State Court 332 in Hidalgo, Texas, according to the newspaper Reforma.
Initially, Caro Quintero was captured on April 4, 1985 in Costa Rica and extradited to Mexico, where he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. However, due to a procedural error, He was released at dawn on August 9, 2013..
During the eight years that he remained free after 2013, the US government revealed to The Washington Post that at least 12 attempts were made to apprehend him, until, thanks to intelligence information, he could be detained by the Secretary of the Navy.
Keep reading:
– Who is Ismael Quintero Arellanes, the nephew of Caro Quintero who was extradited to the US.
– Rafael’s wife Caro Quintero confirms that she plans to divorce the capo and his reasons.