A Mexican-American citizen, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, with the alias “La Barbie”, who is a top member of the notorious Leyva drug cartel, was among those sent to the U.S. for trial, Zeron added.
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Mexico on Wednesday extradited 13 people to the United States associated with drug trafficking, including two top drug lords and a man accused in the killing of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Mexico in 2011.
Valdez, known as “La Barbie” for his blonde hair and fair skin, hails from the Texas city of Laredo, where he was raised by working-class parents and played for his high school football team, according to a 2010 profile by the New York Times. Jorge Costilla Sánchez, the former leader of the Gulf Cartel, faces charges related to marijuana importation and distribution, money laundering, and threatening federal officers. He was known as “El Coss”, Newsweek reported, and was caught in September 2012.
One US official told CNN that the extradition of such high-value cartel henchmen was a signal Mexico understood that things had gone wrong.
For USA authorities, getting La Barbie into a US courtroom is a major accomplishment.
Jose Alberto Rodriguez, head of the worldwide section of Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, denied that the extradition of the 13 was a response to the embarrassing July 11 escape from prison by Mexico’s most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the extraditions resulted from a June meeting with her Mexican counterpart, Arely Gómez González, to strengthen the fight against global organized crime.
“It’s significant that the Mexicans are letting him go”.
El Chapo now has to arrest warrants for extradition to the United States against him, but it remains to be seen if he is actually sent to the USA, as all previous extradition orders have been thrown out of court after his lawyers obtained legal protection against the measure.
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The following 12 defendants were placed in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service late this afternoon.
