Mexico High Court Allows Drug Extradition to U.S., Reforma Says
Mexico may send its citizens to stand trial abroad where a life sentence is possible, opening the door for extradition of drug traffickers sought by the U.S., the Supreme Court ruled, according to daily Reforma.
The court previously held Mexico couldn’t grant U.S. extradition requests for alleged drug traffickers because the life sentences they faced violated the Mexican constitution. The court yesterday ruled that Mexican judges can impose multiple sentences that are effectively no different from a life sentence in the U.S., making extradition permissible, Reforma said.
Convicted drug traffickers such as Miguel Angel Caro Quintero and Jose de Jesus Amezcua have blocked extradition in Mexican court because the U.S. has the life sentence, Reforma said. Mexican newspapers.
Source: bloomberg.com
Mexico overturns extradition ban
The Mexican Supreme Court has overturned a ban on extraditing suspects facing life sentences, allowing them to be sent to the United States.
The ruling followed a decision by the Chihuahua state government to modify its penal code to include life sentences for those convicted homicide and kidnapping, El Universal reported Wednesday.
Mexico will, however, refrain from sending suspects to U.S. states that have the death penalty, which was banned earlier this year.
Among those most likely to face trial in the United States are drug smugglers. It also applies to U.S. citizens who flee to
Mexico extradites drug lord suspect
Alleged drug kingpin Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix was extradited to the United States on Saturday to face drug charges, becoming the first major Mexican drug lord suspect to be sent north for trial.
Mexicos extradition of the man who is suspected of having once run the Arellano Félix drug clan was a victory for U.S. officials, who have been pushing Mexico to send them more drug lords.
Arellano Félix was loaded into a helicopter in Matamoros, then flown across the border and handed over to Texas officials in Brownsville after serving a 10-year sentence in Mexico. He will
A high-ranking Mexican diplomat in Denver for the inauguration of the country's new consulate offices said his government supported the extradition to Colorado of accused cop killer Raul Gomez-Garcia.
Geronimo Gutierrez, Mexico's undersecretary for North America in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the Mexican government "strongly believes (Gomez-Garcia) should face justice here.
"Mexico has no interest in harboring criminals," he said. "The Mexican government is working and will be granting the extradition from an executive branch perspective."
However, Gutierrez said Gomez-Garcia's case would soon be entering the judicial phase in Mexico, which was subject to a number of variables that
MEXICO CITY - Five years after a historic election triumph, Mexican President Vicente Fox remains popular despite a slow economy and his failure to beat violent drug gangs on the U.S. border.
A poll by the Reforma newspaper released on Thursday gave Fox a 61 percent approval rating, his highest in more than two years.
Fox has fallen short of promises to create millions more jobs and spur economic growth since he ended 71 years of one-party rule in 2000.
And while Fox claims to be winning the war on narcotics traffickers, drug-related killings have blighted northern Mexican cities.
But the former Coca-Cola executive
Mexico's 'methamphetamine kings' sent to jail
A Mexican court handed down prison sentences on Thursday to two brothers convicted of leading a gang that controlled much the country's black market amphetamine trade.
Prosecutors say a cartel run by the Amezcua brothers, known as the "Methamphetamine Kings" in criminal circles, used laboratories in the Pacific states of Colima and Jalisco to produce narcotics for export to the United States.
Jose de Jesus Amezcua was sentenced to 28 years in jail, while his brother Adan was handed nine and a half years, the attorney general's office said.
An increasing trade in methamphetamine, known as "meth"
Mexico-Vzla treaty takes effect despite spat
An extradition treaty between Mexico and Venezuela went into effect on Thursday,
a move the Mexican government said shows the relationship between the two nations is moving forward despite a diplomatic spat that saw both countries withdraw their ambassadors earlier this month.
The agreement, which provides for the extradition of citizens of both countries, was signed in 1998, formalized on Oct. 25 and went into effect Thursday.
“The entry into effect of this treaty shows the clear interest of Mexico and Venezuela to broaden their legal frameworks and, in the current context, demonstrates their willingness not only
Mexico to return Denver murder suspect
A Mexican suspect in the shooting death of a Denver detective has not appealed his extradition and will be sent back from his Mexico City jail cell.
Raul Gomez-Garcia, 20, did not appeal the Mexican government`s extradition decision issued on Thanksgiving Day, and the 15-day appeal period has passed, the Denver Post reported.
Gomez-Garcia is charged with second-degree murder in Donald Young`s death and with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Detective John Bishop. He is accused of ambushing the two uniformed off-duty detectives while they provided security at a party at a social hall
Mexico's most wanted man may be in Guatemala-police
Mexico's most wanted man, drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, may have entered neighboring Guatemala where police are searching for him, authorities said on Friday.
"We have not yet determined if he is here, but we have evidence that leads us to believe he is inside our territory," Guatemala's anti-drug police chief Adan Castillo told a news conference.
Guzman has been sought in Mexico since he escaped from a high-security jail in 2001. He has engaged in a fierce war with rival drug barons that has killed more than 1,000 people this year.
The United States is
A Mexican immigrant has been given asylum after a U.S. court ruled the man would suffer persecution for being gay if deported back home.
The ruling by a federal appeals court panel in San Francisco overturned immigration court rulings, the BBC reports.
The panel said the 45-year-old would also have problems finding AIDS treatment.
Jose Boer-Sedano came to the United States in 1990 on a six-month visa and now works as a waiter in San Francisco.
He lived here seven years until immigration authorities began deportation proceedings.
Boer-Sedano told the court that he has been virtually kicked out of his family for being gay.
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Paseo de la Reforma: Mexico City
