Mexican Judge Stops US Extradition of Abouzaid El Bayeh, High-Ranking CJNG Member

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

The suspect has multiple aliases, including: El Hermano, Nene, Escorpion, and El Arabe. He is often referred to simply by his surname Abouzaid El Bayeh.

Mexican federal judge Jesus Alberto Chavez Hernandez has stopped the US extradition of Juan Manuel Abouzaid El Bayeh ('Abouzaid El Bayeh'), a high-ranking Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) member and close associate of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ('El Mencho'). In his legal motion, Abouzaid El Bayeh asked to be tried in Mexico after learning that Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) had approved his extradition.

Abouzaid El Bayeh was captured in Zapopan, Jalisco, last month after an arrest warrant was issued by a federal judge in Mexico City. That same month, he was designated by the US Department of the Treasury as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker. He was accused of having a high-level role in the CJNG's international drug trafficking and money laundering operations.

Abouzaid El Bayeh was sanctioned under the Kingpin Act, which froze all his US-based assets and prohibited US individuals and entities from conducting business transactions with him.

Background 

Abouzaid El Bayeh was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, in 1972. In or around 2012, Abouzaid El Bayeh got involved in drug trafficking activities with the CJNG. In a U.S. federal indictment, he was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico to the US.

He was also indicted with the following individuals:

• Oswaldo de Jesus Miramontes-Diaz, 44, was charged in the Central District of California in 2015. Miramontes-Diaz is currently serving a sentence pursuant to the charges in the United States.

• Gerardo Gonzalez Valencia, aka, “Lalo,” 41, was charged in the District of Columbia in 2016. He was arrested by Uruguayan authorities in April 2016 on these charges, and extradited last year.

• Jose Gonzalez Valencia, aka, “Chepa,” 42, was charged in the District of Columbia in 2016. He was arrested by Brazilian authorities in December 2017 on these charges, and is awaiting extradition.

• Ulises Yovany Mora-Tapia, aka, “Yiyo,” 33, was charged in the District of Columbia in 2016. Mora-Tapia is currently a fugitive and is believed to be in Mexico.

• Jorge Manuel Cobian-Gonzalez, 43, was charged in the Eastern District of Virginia in 2017. Cobian-Gonzalez is currently imprisoned in the US.

• Alfredo Galindo-Salazar aka, “Tucan,” 47, was charged in the District of Columbia in 2018. Galindo-Salazar is currently a fugitive and is believed to be in Mexico.

Abouzaid El Bayeh's sister Salime is also reportedly involved with the CJNG. She manages a business along with Jennifer Beaney Camacho Cazares, the wife of CJNG/Cuinis boss Abigael Gonzalez Valencia

Abouzaid El Bayeh's sister Salime was sanctioned under the Kingpin Act in 2017 for managing Bake and Kitchen, a bake shop owned by the CJNG and their financial branch, Los Cuinis.

Salime also held roles in other businesses owned by the CJNG, including the restaurant Mizu Sushi Lounge, pharmaceutical distributor Grupo de Alta Especialidad Farmaceutica, and the newspaper Unomasuno.

These businesses ran with laundered money from imprisoned CJNG and Cuinis boss Abigael Gonzalez Valencia ('El Cuini'). El Cuini is currently in Mexico and is awaiting US extradition.

In June 2020, Abouzaid El Bayeh's Mexican bank accounts were frozen by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) after investigators were able to confirm his CJNG ties.

Sources: NoticiasNRT; Milenio; Borderland Beat archives