In this image released by the FBI shows the wanted posted for Rafael Caro Quintero. (FBI via AP, File)2025-02-27T20:06:31Z MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexico has sent drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985, to the United States with 28 prisoners requested by the U.S. government, a Mexican government official and other sources said Thursday.It comes as top Mexican officials are in Washington trying to head off the Trump administrations threat of imposing 25% tariffs on all Mexican imports starting Tuesday.The official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, confirmed Caro Quinteros removal. Another person familiar with Mexicos actions also confirmed the removal on the condition of anonymity because they were unable to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations.Mexicos Attorney Generals Office said in a statement that the 29 prisoners sent to the U.S. Thursday faced charges related to drug trafficking among other crimes. Also among those removed were two leaders of the Los Zetas cartel, Mexicans Miguel Trevio Morales and his brother Omar Trevio Morales, known as Z-40 and Z-42, the official confirmed.This is historical, this has really never happened in the history of Mexico, said Mike Vigil, former DEA chief of international operations. This is a huge celebratory thing for the Drug Enforcement Administration. The removal of the drug lords from Mexico coincided with a visit to Washington by Mexicos Foreign Minister Juan Ramn de la Fuente and other top economic and military officials, who met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The meeting was the latest in ongoing negotiations with the U.S. over trade and security relations, which have radically shifted since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. In exchange for delaying tariffs, Trump had insisted that Mexico crack down on cartels, illegal migration and fentanyl production, despite significant dips in migration and overdoses over the past year. The removals may indicate that negotiations are moving along as the tariff deadline approaches. Mexicos surprise handover of one of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives was weeks in the making.Caro Quintero had walked free in 2013 after 28 years in prison when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Kiki Camarena. The brutal murder marked a low point in U.S.-Mexico relations.Caro Quintero, the former leader of the Guadalajara cartel, had since returned to drug trafficking and unleashed bloody turf battles in the northern Mexico border state of Sonora until he was arrested by Mexican forces in 2022.In January, a nonprofit group representing the Camarena family sent a letter to the White House urging the Trump administration to renew longstanding U.S. requests for Mexico to extradite Caro Quintero, according to a copy of the letter provided to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the familys outreach.His return to the U.S. would give the family much needed closure and serve the best interests of justice, the letter states. Pressure increased after Trump threatened imposing stiff trade tariffs on Mexico and designated several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, according to the person on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy that went into Caro Quinteros removal.The acting head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Derek Maltz, provided to the White House a list of nearly 30 Mexican targets wanted in the U.S. on criminal charges, according to the person. Caro Quintero, for whose arrest the U.S. had offered a $20 million reward, was number one on that list, according to the person.The person said President Claudia Sheinbaums government, in a rush to seek favor with the Trump administration and show itself a strong ally in the fight against the cartels, bypassed the formalities of the U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty to remove Caro Quintero and the other defendants.That means it could potentially allow prosecutors in the U.S. to try him for Camarenas murder something not contemplated in the existing extradition request to face separate drug trafficking charges in a Brooklyn federal court. If hes being sent to the U.S. outside of a formal extradition, and if Mexico didnt place any restrictions, then he can be prosecuted for whatever the U.S. wants, according to Bonnie Klapper, a former federal narcotics prosecutor in Brooklyn who is familiar with the case.The U.S. had sought the extradition of Caro Quintero shortly after his arrest in 2022. But the request remained stuck at Mexicos foreign ministry for unknown reasons as Sheinbaums predecessor and political mentor, Andrs Manuel Lopez Obrador, severely curtailed Mexican cooperation with DEA to protest undercover U.S. law enforcement operations in Mexico targeting senior political and military officials. The removal of the Trevio Morales brothers also marks the end of a long process that began after the capture in 2013 of Miguel Trevio Morales and two years later of his brother, Omar. The process wound on for so many years that Mexicos Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, described the lags as truly shameful.The Trevio Morales family, who have been accused by American authorities of running the violent northeastern Cartel from prison, have charges pending in the US for participation in a criminal organization, drug trafficking, firearms offenses and money laundering.Mexican security analyst David Saucedo said that since negotiations with the Trump administration began, he had expected the U.S. government to demand three things: an increase in drug seizures, arrests of high-profile drug trafficking suspects and the handing over of drug traffickers long targeted by the U.S. for extradition.He called Thursdays removals an important concession by Mexicos government to the United States.The United States intention is to extend its justice system, so that crimes committed in Mexico are prosecuted in the U.S., Saucedo said.The decision also threatens to upend an unwritten understanding with notable exceptions that Mexican drug lords would serve sentences in Mexican prisons where they were often able continue to run their illicit businesses, Saucedo said. There will surely be a furious reaction by drug trafficking groups against the Mexican state, he said.____Goodman reported from Miami. Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City.____Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america JOSHUA GOODMAN Goodman is a Miami-based investigative reporter who writes about the intersection of crime, corruption, drug trafficking and politics in Latin America. He previously spent two decades reporting from South America. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site