"El H" puts up roadblocks to his extradition

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from a Riodoce article

Reporter: Alejandro Monjardin

Beltrán Leyva Cartel wins amparo after amparo to the PGR.

 While Alfredo Beltran Leyva, the Mochomo , was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States; his brother Hector, "El H ", complicates the way of the Attorney General's Office (PGR) to extradite him and try him in Mexico.

The Beltrán Leyva cartel leader won two injunctions by miscues of the Federal Public Ministry agents.

One of the errors was against the extradition order and as such, extradition is delayed to the United States; and the other amparo against the detention order and the judge must redo the process and issue a new decision.

His brother, Mochomo, was extradited in November 2014 and April 5, 2015 sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay $529 million in the Federal District Court of Columbia.

Héctor Beltrán was arrested in October 2014 in a restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.

The Engineer, as he is also known, is being held in the Altiplano prison in Almoloya de Juarez, accused of the involvement with organized crime with the purpose of committing crimes against health.

The PGR charged him, with testimony of protected witnesses who allegedly worked with him, but the judges of the Second Collegiate Court in Criminal Matters Tenth Ninth Circuit based in Tamaulipas, must assess the evidence again.

The trial judge issued the detention order taking into account the statements of witnesses of the activities being undertaken by "El H".

Two of the statements were collected in 2008 in the Regional Attaché of the PGR in Los Angeles, CA.

The testimonies report that "El H", Hector Leyva, had management functions, and was responsible for giving orders and supervising the activities of their subordinates in respect to drug trafficking.

One witness said he met Hector in 1996, during a meeting in a house in the center of the city of Guamuchil, municipal head of Salvador Alvarado, Sinaloa. On that occasion, the witness was instructed to be a liaison to coordinate Colombian cocaine shipments from Colombia to Mexico. In addition he was to get people to cross the drugs to the United States and Lear Jet aircraft to transport large amounts of money.

The offender said that under the orders of Hector, who received tons of cocaine in Topolobampo and gave money to agents of the Federal Judicial Police who supported them at the Mexico City International Airport.

Another cartel member said at a meeting in a house in the state of Mexico, in 1999, he was offered to take over the plaza of the airport of Mexico City.

"He offered me the Mexico City International Airport, where he could receive shipments and told him he would check to see if something could be done, which gave him reason to contact anyone in Colombia who was interested in sending drugs through the airport. Sunrays see eight days later, and now giving him a reason to start working near the airport for shipments to begin in which Colombians invested 50/50,  seeing the attractive proposal so the business was consolidated out right, "he said". 

One of the witnesses who appeared in 2005 said to have met "El H"  said that the drugs were received in the port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, through boats, and sent overland to Mexico City and from there was distributed to other regions the country and the United States. He also said that the cartel members had the support of the National Migration Institute who provided false documents to obtain passports.

A witness further stated that in 2008 that "El H" and his brother Arturo controlled several places on the northern border, including Sonora, where they planted marijuana and sent to the United States. At some point, he said, he was named manager of the Plaza de Nogales.

When the Beltrán Leyva brothers split from the Sinaloa Cartel, he said, he was given orders to start killing civilians, policemen and members of the rival group to sow fear.

The trial judge took ito consideration these testimonies and gave credit to the crime of organized crime and issued the detention order.

Beltrán Leyva's attorneys promoted an injunction and the judge ruled in his favor, but the PGR presented a petition for review.

The Appellate Court rejected the approaches of the PGR and confirmed the amparo with the trial judge should stop the groundless detention order and evaluate the evidence again. "This Court notes that under responsible authority has violated the rules of due process," said the statement. The testimony mentioned was rendered in a different preliminary investigation which began against Beltrán Leyva.

Hector Beltran Leyva won another amparo, now against extradition to the United States. On April 12 a federal judge ordered the extradition agreement groundless.

It also calls to replenish the procedure of the judge who found it unnecessary to hold a meeting of experts to identify the offender and determine whether it is the same person claiming the United States.

In the process there was a violation, by a divergence: for an expert there are no elements for identification;  photographs presented by the US government are digital, while another expert said they are sufficient.

The Judge determined that the amparo could bring about a meeting of experts and if necessary appoint an umpire/ adjudicator.

"The rules governing the procedure are transgressed, because the lack of integration of expert evidence referred to indubitably establish the identity or lack of identity between the complainant and the person sought was not justified," said the statement.

With this protection, Beltrán Leyva will not be extradited ... for now.

Original article in Spanish at Riodoce