On Thursday, Mexico extradited the son of one of its most-wanted drug lords to the United States, a source in the Attorney General’s Office said.
It is the latest sign of Mexico’s commitment to step up extraditions after U.S. President Donald Trump backed off from his threat to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist groups .
Rubén
Oseguera
, who was captured in 2015 , was believed to be an important figure in his father’s gang, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel . His father, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera , remains at large.
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“He was extradited today in the afternoon from the state of Sonora on a direct flight to Washington ,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters , referring to the son.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
has come under criticism for his security strategy and, in particular, the bungled arrest of the son of another powerful kingpin.
In October, Mexican officials let go Ovidio Guzmán, the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán , after shootouts with drug gangs broke out in the streets of Culiacán .
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El Menchito’s legal defense had denounced before the Inter American Commission of Human Rights (CIDH) that the extradition process against him was “full of irregularities.”
Last December , lawyer Víctor Beltrán García asserted that it presented strong evidence of the violations to the due process and anomalies committed by actors of the Mexican penal system against his client, arrested since 2015.
He said that the denounce included the names of the people who incurred in the alleged human rights violations . Beltrán García mentioned that “El Menchito” is imprisoned as a result of the accusations of organized crime and other offenses that have been solved in Mexico by five different trials , which ended in his release due to a lack of evidence and deficiencies in the process.
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Despite these results in favor of “El Menchito,” the lawyer said the 28-years-old man is still in an extradition process to the United States, a country who wants him for firearm possession and drug trafficking conspiracy , crimes that have already been judged and “in which the non bis in ídem principle would apply that forbids being judged twice for the same crime .”
On February 26 , a federal judge declined to release “El Menchito ” pending the start of his narcotics trial .
Federal prosecutors had argued last week that Rubén Oseguera was an obvious flight risk and should remain in custody. Oseguera, who was extradited overnight from Mexico before his initial court appearance on Friday , had requested extra time in order to hire a lawyer.
The new defense lawyer, Danny Onorato , opted not to oppose the government’s position, clearing the way for Oseguera’s trial to begin this Friday .
Oseguera, 30, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute large quantities of cocaine and meth , and use of a firearm in commission of a drug trafficking offense . If convicted, he faces at least 15 years in prison.
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