Two alleged regional leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel on the Chihuahua-Texas border were among 37 high-level organized crime suspects transferred by Mexico to the United States this week.
Mexico's secretary of security, Omar Garcia Harfuch, in a post on X, stated that the transferred prisoners were "individuals who represented a real threat to the country's security."
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Mexican federal security forces removed the detainees from prisons and transported them into U.S. custody in an operation in cooperation with the U.S. government on Jan. 20, Garcia Harfuch stated.
The prisoners were flown aboard seven Mexican military aircraft to Washington DC, Houston, San Antonio, San Diego, New York and Pennsylvania.
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The U.S. Department of Justice agreed not to seek the death penalty in any of those cases as part of the agreement with Mexico, Garcia Harfuch said. Mexico has now handed over 92 "high-impact criminals" to the United States since last year during the administration ofPresident Claudia Sheinbaum, he added.
"This is another landmark achievement in the Trump administration's mission to destroy the cartels," U.S. Attorney GeneralPam Bondisaid in a statement. "These 37 cartel members ‒ including terrorists from the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG (Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación), and others ‒ will now pay for their crimes against the American people on American soil."
Reputed Sinaloa cartel leaders in Valley of Juárez, Ojinaga extradited
The list of the 37 suspected narco-traffickers and drug cartel leaders Mexico handed to U.S. authorities includes at least two from the Juárez region and Chihuahua state, according to a list reported byEl Universal, one of Mexico's leading newspapers.
Humberto Rivera: Nicknamed"El Viejon"(the old man), is accused of being a regional leader of the Sinaloa cartel faction in the Valley of Juárez border smuggling corridor, southeast of Juárez.
Rivera, who is also known by the monikers "El Chato" and "El Don," was flown to Mexico City after being arrested by Mexican law enforcement in a multiagency operation in February 2025. He was also wanted by U.S. federal law enforcement in the Western District of Texas.
Roberto Gonzalez Hernandez, alias "El 04": Gonzalez, known as"El 04,"pronounced "El Cero Cuatro," is reputedly the founder of the faction of Los Cabrera inOjinaga, across the border from Presidio, Texas.Los Cabrerais a faction of the Sinaloa cartel.
Gonzalez was wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on drug, firearms trafficking and money laundering charges, El Universal reported.
El Universal lists both Rivera and Gonzalez as associated with the Cártel del Pacífico (Pacific cartel), which is another name for the Sinaloa cartel.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and@BorundaDanielon X.
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This article originally appeared on El Paso Times:Mexico hands 37 cartel suspects to US, including Sinaloa cartel leaders
