Mexico has extradited 29 individuals, including notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, to the United States in a move to bolster cooperation with Washington on combating organized crime. 

Caro Quintero, the founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, was convicted for the 1985 torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. After serving 28 years of a 40-year sentence, he was released in 2013 due to a legal technicality but was re-arrested in 2022 following renewed U.S. pressure. 

Now 72, Quintero is expected to stand trial in New York on drug trafficking charges.

The extradited cartel figures were flown to eight U.S. cities, including New York, Houston, Chicago, and Phoenix, where they will face charges ranging from drug trafficking and money laundering to homicide and arms smuggling. 

Among those extradited were members of Mexican organized crime groups recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. President Donald Trump.

Key figures from Mexico’s most powerful cartels, such as Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, the brother of Mexico’s most wanted drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was also included. 

In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi confirmed that the U.S. had taken the 29 cartel figures into custody.

The extradition comes amid rising trade tensions between the U.S. and Mexico, following President Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican imports starting March 4 unless Mexico takes stronger action against drug trafficking and illegal immigration. Since Trump’s return to office, the U.S. military has also ramped up troop deployments along the U.S.-Mexico border and bolstered surveillance of Mexican cartels.