“Morogris” for Borderland Beat
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| This morning, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador addressed questions from reporters on the release and potential deportation of Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, who once headed the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas |
During a press conference this morning, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) addressed the release of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who is months away from being released from a US federal prison.
AMLO stated that Rosa Icela Rodríguez, the head of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), is making preparations should Cardenas Guillen be deported back to Mexico. He said that he is not certain if the FGR has charges against him but that they will conduct a thorough investigation.
He further stated that the government would make an announcement to Mexican citizens on the actions taken in a timely fashion.
AMLO also clarified that if Cardenas Guillen does not face charges in Mexico, the FGR would not fabricate charges against him just to secure his arrest.
Reporters asked AMLO if there was a possibility that Cardenas Guillen could become a protected witness upon his return to Mexico, to which AMLO responded that this was not a strategy the government is planning to employ.
Background
Cardenas Guillen served as the top leader of the Gulf Cartel from 1999 to 2003. During his leadership, he recruited several ex-military members to establish the cartel’s paramilitary wing, Los Zetas. At the peak of his influence, he became one of the most sought-after international fugitives.
Arrested in Mexico in 2003, Cárdenas Guillén was subsequently extradited to the U.S. in 2007. Initially sentenced to 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole in 2010, his sentence has undergone multiple reductions.
As per the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Cárdenas Guillén’s anticipated release date is set for August 30, 2024. He is currently held at the USP Terre Haute in Indiana.
It is unclear if Cardenas Guillen will be deported back to Mexico upon serving his sentence. As reported by Borderland Beat, the legal language in his US indictment does not stipulate that he will be ordered for immediate deportation, a clause that other Gulf Cartel members indicted with him do have. This omission may signal that Cardenas Guillen could remain in the US—possibly as a protected witness—instead of being deported to Mexico.
Earlier this month, a federal judge dropped firearm charges against Cárdenas Guillén after the charge had reached its statute of limitations. This motion is yet to be approved by another court, which will be the final arbiter to decide if the charges will be upheld or dismissed.
Cardenas Guillen is not the only high-ranking Gulf Cartel and Zetas member to be released from a US prison this year. Tomas Yarrington Ruvalcaba, the former Governor of Tamaulipas, is also scheduled to be released from prison in November.
Borderland Beat records show that Yarrington was a key figure in the Gulf Cartel’s ascension as one of Mexico’s leading criminal groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s. During that era, the cartel was headed by kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.