FBI Targets 29 Cartel Figures, Including Notorious Drug Lord, in US-Mexico Operation Amid Trump’s Intensified Pressure on Cartels | World News

February 28, 2025 TruthUSA

Mexico has transferred 29 individuals linked to drug cartels, including a highly sought-after drug lord, to the US as the Trump administration ramps up its efforts against these criminal organizations.

The beginning of the new US president’s second term was characterized by trade wars with close allies, where he threatened to increase tariffs on Mexico and Canada, insisting that these nations take action against drug cartels, immigration issues, and fentanyl production.

With the implementation of 25% tariffs looming, drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, named one of the FBI’s “10 most wanted fugitives,” was among those handed over in an unprecedented act of cooperation.

This development coincides with a visit from high-ranking Mexican officials to Washington ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

The individuals sent to the US on Thursday were gathered from prisons throughout Mexico and transported to eight cities across the US, as stated by the Mexican government.

Prosecutors from both nations reported that the prisoners deported to the US faced charges including drug trafficking and homicide.

“We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who dedicated their careers — and in some instances, gave their lives — to protect innocent citizens from the horror of violent cartels,” stated US Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

‘Cartel kingpin’

Quintero was sentenced for the torture and murder of US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena in 1985.

This murder marked a significant low in US-Mexico relations.

Quintero was described by the US attorney general as “a cartel kingpin who unleashed violence, destruction, and death across both the United States and Mexico.”

After spending decades in prison and featuring on the FBI’s most wanted list, he was released in 2013 when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for the murder of Mr. Camarena.

Quintero, previously the leader of the Guadalajara cartel, resumed drug trafficking and incited violent turf wars in the northern Mexican state of Sonora until his re-arrest in 2022.

The US sought his extradition soon after, but the request was stalled at Mexico’s foreign ministry for unspecified reasons.

President Claudia Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, had significantly reduced cooperation with the DEA as a protest against undercover US operations in Mexico that targeted high-ranking political and military officials.

‘The Lord of The Skies’

Among those sent to the US were cartel leaders, security chiefs from both factions of the Sinaloa cartel, cartel financing operatives, and an individual linked to the killing of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy in 2022.

Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, who once led the Juarez drug cartel based in Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso, Texas, and brother of drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, famously known as “The Lord of The Skies” who died during a botched plastic surgery in 1997, was also handed over to the US.

Additionally, two leaders of the now-defunct Los Zetas cartel, brothers Miguel and Omar Trevino Morales, known as Z-40 and Z-42, were included in the transfer.

The brothers have been accused of leading the successor Northeast Cartel from their prison cells.

Trump-Mexico relations

The transfer of cartel figures coincided with visits by Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente and other high-ranking officials to Washington, where they met with US counterparts.

Mr. Trump has expressed a strong determination to combat drug cartels and has pressured Mexico to collaborate with him.

The acting head of the DEA, Derek Maltz, reportedly provided the White House with a list of nearly 30 individuals in Mexico wanted in the US on criminal charges, with Quintero at the top of the list.

Furthermore, it was reported that Ms. Sheinbaum’s administration, eager to gain favor with the Trump administration, expedited the extradition, bypassing the usual formalities of the two countries’ extradition treaty in this instance.

This could potentially enable US prosecutors to pursue Quintero for the murder of Mr. Camarena — a charge not included in the existing extradition request, which pertains to separate drug trafficking allegations in a Brooklyn federal court.

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