For: The opinion Updated Jan 11, 2023, 11:26 am EST
Jose Rodolfo Villarreal Hernandezalias “El Gato”, who was arrested on January 7 in Mexico City, won a brief judicial victory after a judge temporarily suspended his extradition to the United States.
The former leader of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, who was arrested by elements of the Mexican Navy in collaboration with agents of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), wanted by the FBI since 2013and offered a million dollars in exchange for information on his whereabouts.
According to the US agency, Villarreal Hernández held a leadership position in the Beltrán Leyva organizationand is accused of orchestrating the murder of a 43-year-old man on May 22, 2013 in Southlake, Texas.
The investigation, led by the FBI’s Dallas field office, revealed that the victim, Jesús Guerrero, identified as a lawyer for the drug trafficker Osiel Cardenas Guillenwas harassed by a group of people from Los Beltrán Leyva who ran “El Gato” starting in March 2011.
The assassinated lawyer was commissioned to deliver 50 million dollars in cash and property to the US government, as part of an agreement in exchange for reducing the sentence of Osiel Cárdenas, former leader of the Gulf Cartel.
Despite this, the Amparo judge in Criminal Matters, Juan Mateo Brieba de Castro, granted the detainee a provisional suspension that protects it from being immediately turned over to the United States government.
This measure orders that José Rodolfo remain confined in a Mexican prison, and that his personal freedom be at the disposal of the amparo judge, which is why he cannot be sent to the United States.
It will be next January 16 when the hearing will be held in which it will be determined if Rodolfo Villarreal receives the final suspension against his extradition. Meanwhile, the US authorities have a period of 60 days to submit the formal request, with which he could be extradited.
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