Back

LatinNews Daily - 21 February 2020

Click here for printer friendly version
Click here for full report

MEXICO: Another prominent drug trafficker extradited to the US

On 20 February the Mexican government revealed that it had extradited Rubén ‘El Menchito’ Oseguera González, a suspected member of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) drug trafficking organisation (DTO), to the US.

Analysis:

The extradition follows a recent trend by which Mexico has been more amenable to extraditing Mexican nationals to the US to face drug trafficking charges. This trend was started under the previous Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) government led by Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018). Oseguera González’s extradition suggests that cooperation between the Mexican and US governments over combating drug trafficking remains strong despite the change in government in Mexico which saw President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the leftist Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party come to power in 2018.

  • Oseguera González, who was born in the US and has dual nationality, is the son of Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes, the main CJNG leader who is also wanted in the US but remains at large. He was arrested in Mexico in 2015, accused of being the leader of the CJNG in Jalisco state, responsible for smuggling drugs into the US. The US government submitted an extradition request in 2017 so that he could be tried at the District of Columbia federal court over charges of conspiring to traffic cocaine and methamphetamines into the US.
  • The extradition took place despite complaints by Oseguera González’s legal team that the process was plagued by irregularities. They accused the Mexican government of pressuring the courts to approve the extradition and reject their appeals against it, in what they described as a “judicial terrorism”. They even filed a complaint before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR) on the grounds that due process had not been followed, undermining Oseguera González’s rights.  
  • In an official statement the López Obrador government confirmed yesterday that the supreme court (SCJN) had approved Oseguera González’s extradition. The statement added that Oseguera González has now been delivered to US law enforcement.

Looking Ahead: The US and the Mexican authorities will be hoping that Oseguera González’s trial will help to identify other key CJNG figures and lead to the capture of Oseguera Cervantes.

LatinNews
Intelligence Research Ltd.
167-169 Great Portland Street,
5th floor,
London, W1W 5PF - UK
Phone : +44 (0) 203 695 2790
Contact
You may contact us via our online contact form
Copyright © 2022 Intelligence Research Ltd. All rights reserved.