U.S. GOVERNMENT FORMALLY REQUESTS EXTRADITION OF EX-GOVERNOR MARIO VILLANUEVA & TWO...

US prosecutors have presented a formal request to the Mexican government to extradite former Quintana Roo Gov. Mario Villanueva Madrid and two prominent drug traffickers to face drug charges in the US.

The extradition request, presented through a federal court in New York, accuses Villanueva

Villanueva went into hiding just days before the conclusion of his term as governor to escape charges of providing assistance to drug traffickers, laundering drug profits, and misusing public funds. The former governor eluded Mexican authorities for more than two years before his arrest in Cancun in May 2001 (see SourceMex, 2001-05-30).

Magana and Salinas Doria, two key leaders of the Juarez cartel's southeastern operations, are also serving long prison sentences in Mexico on unrelated drug-trafficking charges. Magana, best known in drug-trafficking circles as "El Metro," was arrested in June 2001 (see SourceMex, 2001-06-20).

Salinas Doria, whose nickname is "El Guero Gil," is said to have managed the financial operations of the Juarez cartel's southeastern operations.

The US indictment, presented to the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE) in late January, alleges that Magana and Salinas smuggled cocaine from Colombia to the US via Quintana Roo. In Quintana Roo, they allegedly received direct assistance from Villanueva in exchange for a US$500,000 payment for each drug shipment.

"The drug lords are on notice that they will not be able to operate with impunity simply because they hold positions of influence, or because they choose to go into hiding," said James B. Comey, US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Mexican authorities have promised to rule within 60 days on whether the three men can be extradited to the US. The extradition is possible because of a ruling by Mexico's highest court (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion, SCJN) that Mexican citizens can be sent to other countries for trial without violating the Mexican Constitution (see SourceMex, 2001-01-24).

The SCJN later amended that ruling to stipulate that the Mexican government has no authority to extradite any Mexican citizen who faces the prospect of being sentenced to a prison term longer than the equivalent of Mexico's life sentence, which is 40 years (see SourceMex, 2001-10-10).

Incompatible US & Mexican laws could block extradition

The SCJN rulings, intended to prevent Mexicans from facing the death penalty or a US life sentence, could present obstacles to the extradition of Villanueva, Magana, and Salinas Doria.

A US federal prosecutor said authorities carefully worded the extradition requests to comply with the SCJN rulings in October. In the indictments, the US prosecutors wrote the charges to allege crimes that call for multiple 40-year sentences instead of life in prison.

"We did not want [the Villanueva case] to be the test of the Mexican court ruling," an official told The Dallas Morning News.

But even the carefully worded indictment may not be sufficient to overcome other obstacles in the Mexican legal system. In an interview with the weekly news magazine Proceso, attorney Mario Belmontes Stringel said the appeals system in Mexico could delay an extradition indefinitely.

Furthermore, said Belmontes, Mexican courts are not likely to grant the extraditions because of the strong incompatibility between US and Mexican laws. For example, said Belmontes, Mexican law has no equivalent to conspiracy, a charge that many Mexican drug traffickers would be facing in the US.

The SCJN ruling stipulates that any Mexican citizen who is extradited to the US must first be tried at home. US Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow said the US might be able to bypass this ruling because of a treaty signed by Attorney General John Ashcroft and his counterpart Rafael Macedo de la Concha in May 2001, which allows criminals facing charges in both countries to be extradited abroad temporarily.

Villanueva has succeeded in fighting some of the charges brought against him by the Mexican government. In a ruling in mid-January, a court in Mexico state threw out charges of organized criminal activities and money laundering against Villanueva because the judge who first sent him to prison did not adequately consider the evidence offered in his defense. Furthermore, the court said the government would be unable to appeal the ruling that dropped the charges.

The court's ruling, however, was insufficient to allow Villanueva to go free because he still faces charges of tax fraud and criminal association. (Sources: CNI en Linea, 01/15/02; The News, 01/17/02; Associated Press, 01/24/02; El Universal, 01/17/02, 01/25/02; Reuters, 01/24/02, 01/25/02; La Cronica de Hoy, Reforma, The Dallas Morning News, 01/25/02; Proceso, 01/27/02; Milenio Diario, 01/25/02, 01/28/02; Novedades, 01/28/02)