MEXICO CITY — Mexico extradited 29 alleged drug traffickers to the United States on Thursday, including Rafael Caro Quintero, a prized target long sought in the killing of a U.S. narcotics agent, and two leaders of the hyper-violent Zetas cartel, in a dramatic gesture apparently aimed at heading off crushing economic sanctions, according to U.S. officials.
President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexico on Tuesday for what he calls its failure to stop drugs — including fentanyl — from crossing the border. A high-level Mexican delegation met Thursday with senior Trump administration officials to hammer out a deal to avoid the economic penalties.
“Twenty-nine, that’s huge! What they’ve done is literally cleaned out the cupboard,” said John Feeley, a former U.S. diplomat who served as deputy chief of mission in Mexico from 2009 to 2012. Normally, he said, extraditions of major capos were handled one by one, often involving long negotiations. But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was “pulling out all the stops” to avoid the tariffs, he said.
