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Mexico to extradite former gov to US to face drug charges
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by Milt Shapiro (mexnews) - Nov 11, 2007
AP - Nov 7, 2007
Mexico agrees to extradite former governor to U.S. to face drug charges
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's government announced on Wednesday that it has
agreed to extradite a former state governor to the United States to
face charges he helped traffickers ****p drugs to the U.S. market.
Mario Villanueva, who was governor of the Caribbean state of Quintana
Roo from 1993 to 1996, served six years in prison in Mexico for money
laundering but was cleared in this country of drug trafficking and
organized crime charges.
He was released from prison in June after fini****ng his sentence but
was immediately re-apprehended on the extradition request. The U.S.
alleges that Villanueva offered aid or protection to traffickers who
smuggled 200 tons of cocaine into the United States. Prosecutors said
Villanueva received $500,000 for each of several ****pments he aided.
While other former Mexican governors have been suspected of having
links to the drug trade, Villanueva would be the first one ever
extradited to the United States.
Defense lawyer Horacio Garcia said authorities had notified
Villanueva - who is currently being held at a Mexico City prison -
that the Foreign Relations Department had decided to approve the
extradition. In a press statement, the department said Villanueva has
15 days to appeal the decision, and Garcia said he plans to do so.
Villanueva claims that the U.S. charges are essentially the same ones
he has already faced - and been acquitted of - in Mexico. He contends
his extradition would subject him to being tried twice for the same
offense.
President Felipe Caldern has shown greater willingness to extradite
drug suspects to the U.S. since taking office in December.
*
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