Why extraditions to the US are decreasing and why it is convenient for Mexico to stay with Ovidio Guzmán

The former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico was found guilty of four charges of drug trafficking (Cuartoscuro)

In 2022, 54 people were extradited from Mexico to the United States, which represents a 53 percent decrease compared to the peak reached in 2012.

The CDMX was a cocaine warehouse for the Sinaloa Cartel when AMLO was head of Government: Anabel Hernández

The journalist pointed out that the President should investigate the former Undersecretary of Public Security of the then Federal District, Gabriel Regino, after being mentioned in the trial against Genaro García Luna

However, this trend is likely to become even more acute after the trial of former Public Security Secretary Genaro García Luna, according to security analyst Alejandro Hope.

“Considering that he could become a collaborating witness in a future trial against current officials, no one from the current government is going to put much effort into extraditing Ovidio Guzmán, for example. At the very least, they are going to do everything they can to delay the process,” Hope said.

Salvador Cienfuegos: the accusations that the Mexican soldier had in the US and the reason for his “surprise” release

On October 15, 2020, Salvador Cienfuegos, head of the Sedena during the EPN six-year term, was arrested in the US, however, just over a month later he was transferred to Mexico, where the charges against him were dismissed.

In this sense, the trial of the former official and right-hand man of Felipe Calderón set a new precedent: current officials who could be the target of future investigations will hardly make the same mistake of going to live in the United States after leaving office.

The trial against García Luna will set a new precedent according to analyst Alejandro Hope (ZUMA PRESS)

They probably won’t even allow themselves to vacation in the US, like the recent cases of General Salvador Cienfuegos or the former prosecutor of Nayarit, Édgar Veytia, both investigated on the other side of the border. “In all probability, they will put as much distance as possible from US territory, and in some cases, they may seek refuge in countries where extradition to the United States is difficult or impossible,” the analyst said.

Genaro García Luna: what follows after being found guilty

After hearing the verdict of the jury, Judge Brian Cogan set a date to know the sentence that the former Secretary of Public Safety could face

The same could happen with the assets of those officials, the columnist explained. “Faced with the possibility of seeing their estate frozen and subject to possible seizure, they will most likely keep it well outside of US jurisdiction. They are not going to make the Garcia Luna mistake of accumulating real estate in Florida.”

Likewise, Hope indicated, these types of cases generally require contacts and trust between members of the Mexican security apparatus to complement the investigations or confirm some hypotheses.

“The contacts are surely still there, but trust has most likely deteriorated after the Cienfuegos fiasco and the García Luna trial. It is difficult to know how much, but it is difficult to assume that there is not a certain resentment within the security apparatus after these cases, ”the analyst wrote in his last column for the newspaper El Universal.

Salvador Cienfuegos was head of the Sedena during the six-year term of Peña Nieto. REUTERS / Carlos Jasso

General Salvador Cienfuegos was head of the Sedena during the six-year term of the PRI member Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN), from 2012 to 2018. During that period, the deployment of the Army in national territory to carry out police functions, despite the known risks of this strategy, which has been criticized for discouraging police strengthening and reform processes, as well as for placing military elements in a role that is neither typical of military forces, nor does it include adequate control and accountability mechanisms.

Cienfuegos’ mandate was marked by recurring serious human rights violations by the Army. Cienfuegos was known for defending the actions of the military elements in the face of complaints of serious abuses, as occurred, for example, in the case of the people who were extrajudicially executed in Tlatlaya. He also prevented GIEI members from interviewing soldiers in the Ayotzinapa case.

It was on October 15, 2020 when US authorities arrested General Cienfuegos, accusing him of having committed various crimes in collusion with an organized crime group, based on an investigation by the DEA (US anti-drug agency).

However, President López Obrador, in an alleged context of pressure from the Mexican Army, worked hard so that Cienfuegos would not be prosecuted in the US. Mexico sought, in an unprecedented process, the return of Cienfuegos to the country, threatening the neighboring country to the north to expel the DEA agents if the US government did not agree to the request.

On January 14, 2021, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), headed by Alejandro Gertz Manero, announced the non-exercise of criminal proceedings in favor of Cienfuegos.

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