Mexico considers treason charges against anyone who helped extradite drug lord

(RAY BOGAN)

You’d think they’d say thank you, but no. Prosecutors in Mexico are instead considering criminal charges against anyone who helped extradite drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada to the United States.

In July, the Justice Department arrested El Chapo’s son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Zambada after their plane landed at a small airport in New Mexico. They are both leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzman wanted to turn himself in, while Zambada says he was taken against his will.

Now, the Office of the Mexican Attorney General says it is considering the following charges against Guzman and anyone who assisted in the transfer of “El Mayo”: “illegal flight, illegal use of airports, immigration and customs violations, kidnapping, treason and all other crimes that may apply.”

You may be wondering, how can handing over a drug lord be treason? Well, in Mexico, their treason statute has an added meaning, it includes anyone who, ““kidnapping someone illegally in Mexico to hand him or her over to the authorities of another country.”

According to AP, that clause was added after someone had the audacity to kidnap a doctor responsible for the torture and murder of a DEA agent in 1985 and extradite him to the United States.

The President of Mexico agrees with the decision to open a criminal investigation into Zambada’s arrest.

(AMLO-)

“(Zambada’s arrest) could have been an operation by the U.S. Department of Justice, and they have to make a statement because we will find out anyway,” President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador said at a news conference.

(RAY BOGAN)

President Obrador has previously said he opposes U.S. intervention in Mexico. He also said the arrest could be part of a plot to smear him. This is the same president who has a hugs-not-bullets policy in the fight against drug cartels.

(AMLO-)

“Why don’t they change that policy in the United States? Why do they think that arresting one famous drug lord — or two, or three, or 10 — will solve their (drug abuse) problem?” Obrador told reporters.

(RAY BOGAN)

AMLO and Mexican prosecutors voice their disapproval of the operation after Zambada’s lawyer a letter released The drug lord wrote from prison that he had been ambushed, kidnapped and brought to the United States against his will.

These are serious allegations from a man who $15 million reward on his head and is accused of murder, kidnapping and human trafficking.

Zambada has already appeared in court twice in the United States, with a third appearance scheduled for September 9. He is being held without bail.