LatinNews Daily - 9 September 2024

Mexico: On 3 September Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his government was waiting for more information from the US regarding the reported release of Mexican drug trafficker Osiel Cárdenas Guillén from prison in the US. Cárdenas, the former leader of the Mexican drug trafficking organisation (DTO) Cártel del Golfo (CDG), was released on 30 August, according to a spokesperson for the US prison service consulted by newswire Reuters. Cárdenas led the formerly dominant CDG, one of Mexico’s oldest DTOs, and founded Los Zetas, a fearsome armed wing of the CDG composed initially of former army special forces troops, known for its hyper-violent tactics such as decapitation, kidnapping, and extortion. He was arrested in Mexico in 2003 and extradited to the US in 2007 where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on various charges including drug trafficking and money laundering in 2010. He was reportedly released into the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is unclear whether Cárdenas will be deported to Mexico or remain in the US. Although the CDG has now lost its influence as a unified force and split into different factions, these factions still wield control in strategic areas of the US-Mexico border near the Gulf of Mexico. In May 2022, Cárdenas’ brother Mario ‘El M-1’ Cárdenas Guillén, was extradited to the US. He had helped run the CDG following the 2010 killing of another brother, Antonio ‘Tony Tormenta’ Cárdenas Guillén, who had taken over as leader following the arrest of Osiel. In March 2023, Osiel’s son, Osiel Cárdenas-Salinas Jr, was sentenced to nine years in prison in the US for multiple weapons offences and arms trafficking.

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