Mexican President Vicente Fox speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Presidential residence Los Pinos in Mexico City March 15, 2006. REUTERS/Andrew Winning
Posted on 03/15/2006 8:12:09 PM PST by NormsRevenge
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico will begin extraditing drug lords wanted in the United States within weeks and expects a violent backlash from the powerful cartels, President Vicente Fox said on Wednesday.
Fox told Reuters the legal process of handing over traffickers on the U.S. government's list had already begun.
"I am confident and convinced that very soon, and I am talking about weeks, we will start the first extraditions of these leaders," Fox said.
"I am sure that will provoke additional violence. ... They will try to retaliate," he said. "It could be judges, it could be government officials, but we will be ready."
Fox, a close ally of the United States, did not say who would be extradited first, or how many, but stressed they were "the big bosses."
He also said they would have to serve their sentences in U.S. prisons. That marks a major policy shift because until recently under Mexican law, drug traffickers had to serve out their prison sentences in Mexico before being put behind bars in the United States.
The United States has been pressing for the extradition of drug kingpins for years but Mexican legislation made it difficult.
Fox said the impending action against traffickers followed a series of Supreme Court rulings that have made extraditions easier.
More than 1,000 people were killed in drug violence across Mexico last year. Cities along the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) U.S. border, including Nuevo Laredo, have seen pitched battles between rival gangs, including one with bazookas and machine guns.
The drug gangs have a reputation for brutality.
"I can tell you that without a doubt the Mexican drug trafficking organizations are the most violent, they have the biggest gangs, they are ruthless and they are very well run businesses," a senior official from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in Mexico this week.
COLOMBIAN EXAMPLE
Fox drew a parallel between Mexico and Colombia, where the Medellin cocaine cartel declared war on the government in the 1980s in response to a decision to extradite cartel leaders to the United States.
Hundreds of people died in bombings and assassinations until Colombian police tracked down and killed Pablo Escobar, the leader of the Medellin cartel.
Colombia was successful in fighting the drug lords, Fox said. "I am sure we will be successful, too."
Fox's government has had high-profile successes in the anti-drug fight, including the arrests of cartel leaders Benjamin Arellano Felix, Osiel Cardenas and Hector Palma, accused of shipping tons of cocaine to the United States.
But many of the top traffickers have continued to run their organizations from prison.
"We have implemented very strict controls in federal jails where these capos (bosses) are," Fox said. "Still, they do operate from Mexico and the real price to pay in justice is if they are extradited."
Despite hundreds of arrests and record seizures on both sides of the border, drugs have continued to pour into the United States and cocaine, heroin and marijuana are widely available in American cities.
In its latest report on international drug trafficking, issued last month, the U.S. State Department said between 70 and 90 percent of the cocaine destined for the United States passed through Mexico.
Mexican President Vicente Fox speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Presidential residence Los Pinos in Mexico City March 15, 2006. REUTERS/Andrew Winning
Sure, if you go after the mob it is war.
So kill them and there will be less problems.
Why extradite them? We don't want them nor do we wanna waste tax dollars on them. Kill them there.
Great, now they will send us MORE illegals legally!
Vicente Fox would have done many more thtings to bring reform if he would have had a Congress that was willing to make necessary changes. We will miss him after he serves his 6 years.
look at it as an attempt to reunite some "family" members. ;-)
Based on what I see coming up, you're right.
LOL, probably is. Wrong kind of "family" though.
This guy should be first on the list.
Mexico will begin extraditing drug lords wanted in the United States within weeks
sheana <- banging head on desk
Why the hell do we want them? Sheesh we are gonna wind up with every single one of Mexico's dregs....legally and illegally.
We can send you 10 million soldiers to fight them, Vincente.
It's called getting rid of 'el competition'
imo
"Fox, a close ally of the United States"
Thats my favorite line......
Mexican President Vicente Fox is playing both sides from the middle, which is a very dangerious thing to do.
First off, it seems self-defeating for the US to push and push Mexico to send the drug traffickers HERE to submit to American justice. Why not let them stay in Mexico? This gives Fox another card to play, ( "I helped you") not to mention another avenue for his assault on our country. He predicts violence because that is what he fondly wishes would happen. In effect, this is like Carter allowing Castro to send all his thugs, undesirables, etc. to America
(the Mariel boatlift)---Castro was only too happy to get rid of them.It's been 4 1/2 years since he was knocked off the front pages by 9-11, and now Fox, whose government literally published a GUIDE to help his own citizens to invade the US, is back onstage and flexing his muscles as a player. If it were up to me, I would forget prosecuting these guys---it would make more sense to demand that Fox keep them, since bringing them here to be judged guilty just adds more American taxpayer money to the big pot that takes care of illegal criminals. Funny world we live in, huh?
My favorite line, too. Only from Reuters.......
Does this SOB ever do ANYTHING about/within his OWN country, you know, the one where he is supposed to be the president, without referencing how it affects US - Mexico relations? Indeed, does this guy have any actual function?
It's fargin' war!
It's fargin' war!
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