Mexican officials extradited the suspected drug trafficker known as the “Queen of the Pacific” to the US on Thursday. Sandra Avila Beltran was handed over at the Toluca airport outside Mexico City to US marshals who took her to Miami to face federal cocaine-trafficking charges, the attorney general’s office said.
Avila had been acquitted of similar charges in Mexico and her defense argued unsuccessfully that meant she should not be extradited.
In June, a court granted the extradition so she could face the charges pending in the US, where prosecutors allege she also had links to cocaine seizures in Chicago. In 2001, US agents intercepted a telephone call in which Avila allegedly asked for payment for 100kg of cocaine delivered in Chicago.
Federal prosecutors said the extradition request indicates Avila belonged to an organization that trafficked cocaine from Colombia to the US. US prosecutors allege she helped store and move shipments of the drug from Mexico to the US.
Until Thursday, Avila had been held in a prison in Mexico’s Pacific coast state of Nayarit, pending trial for a separate money-laundering charge. It was not immediately clear how Mexican prosecutors would proceed with that case. Avila, who was arrested in 2007 sipping coffee in a Mexico City diner, has said she is innocent.
Prosecutors have alleged that Avila spent more than a decade working her way to the top of Mexico’s drug trade. They say her romance with Colombian Juan Diego Espinoza brought together Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel with Colombia’s Norte del Valle. The Sinaloa cartel led by drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been locked in a vicious fight with the violent Zetas gang in several regions of Mexico.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
RELAXED: After talks on Ukraine and trade, the French president met with students while his wife visited pandas, after the pair parted ways with their Chinese counterparts French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China yesterday in Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a day earlier. Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan Province. Macron was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century
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