Mexico has an obligation to arrest Nicolas Maduro as it did with “Chapo” Guzman

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) In Mexico, the first official meeting of transnational organized crime and Latin American Presidents has just taken place. It was under the name of the “VI Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)”. It was possible because of the presence of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, with criminal indictments in US federal courts, an outstanding arrest warrant and a $15 million reward. Maduro is also considered a felon under the United Nations’ Palermo Convention, an international accord against organized crime subscribed by more than 100 countries. Mexico, a signatory of Palermo’s, with extradition and free trade treaties with the US, has an obligation to arrest Maduro in the same way it did with drug trafficking Capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

The main goal of criminals has always been to penetrate, control, and involve themselves in politics. In this regard, most notable attempts in the Western Hemisphere’s 20th century have been the cases of Drug Lords Pablo Escobar in Colombia, and Roberto Suarez in Bolivia. They were personally immersed in politics, and they both were partners in trafficking with Cuba’s Fidel Castro, as thoroughly documented in the book “The King of Cocaine,” and, among other facts, by the shooting of Cuban General Arnaldo Ochoa.

In this century, criminals’ penetration of politics was achieved by the so called 21st Century’s Socialism, also known as Castro-Chavism. With help from Cuba and using the Cuban methodology, they managed to seize and hold power in Venezuela, first with Hugo Chavez and later on with Nicolas Maduro. They also expanded influence to Bolivia with Evo Morales and (current president) Luis Arce; Nicaragua, with Daniel Ortega, and Ecuador with Rafael Correa. As a result, these countries were turned into narco-states.

Castro-Chavism also managed to give political recognition and status to the Colombian FARC, a US-designated narco-terrorist organization, using to that purpose peace agreements that were rejected by the majority of Colombians, who voted NO when the agreements were subject to referendum.

Furthermore, Castro-Chavism supports armed violence promoted by FARC operatives who simulate to be dissidents, and drug traffickers with the ELN, the other Colombian narco-guerrilla group also sanctioned by the US. Leaders of both groups are living in Cuba, protected by Castro’s dictatorship.

Cuba with Castro/Diaz-Canel, Venezuela with Maduro/Cabello, Bolivia with Morales/Arce and Nicaragua with Ortega/Murillo, are narco-states that commit crimes against humanity on a regular basis, and exert institutionalized state-sponsored terrorism. With ideological influence and almost unlimited funding from the “Sao Paulo Forum,” they built up support from countries and leaders as Argentina’s Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Kirchner; Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and Peru’s Pedro Castillo, bringing much needed help and protection to the leaders of the Castro-Chavist narco-states.

This is the frame of reference to understand CELAC summit in Mexico, and the presence of the dictators of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

This is how Mexican president Lopez Obrador used the Anniversary of the Mexican Independence to pay what he owes to the Cuban regime, advocating for the Cuban dictator after he committed aggravated crimes against humanity last 11th of July, when the Cuban people peacefully asked for “freedom, homeland and life,” and in exchange were violently repressed.

This is how Lopez Obrador -using Mexico’s leadership in the Hemisphere as excuse- manipulated CELAC to welcome felon Nicolas Maduro to the meeting.

What Lopez Obrador has really achieved is to have put his servitude and his commitment to this transnational crime organization in full display.

By making Mexico the center for the promotion and protection of criminals, Lopez Obrador violates the UN’s Palermo Convention ratified by Mexico back on March 4th, 2003. He also violates the Mexico-US-Canada treaty, which will bring about very serious economic consequences.

Mexico signed an Extradition Treaty with the US on May 4th, 1978. The treaty has been repeatedly put into effect, the latest most notorious case being the extradition to the US of Mexican drug Lord “El Chapo” Guzmán, at the beginning of 2017.

According to the Treaty’s Article 1.1, “the Contracting Parties agree to mutually extradite, subject to the provisions of this Treaty, persons who the competent authorities of the requesting Party have charged with an offense or have found guilty of committing an offense, or are wanted by said authorities to complete a judicially pronounced penalty of deprivation of liberty for an offense committed”…

On March 26th, 2020, the US Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Nicolas Maduro and other high ranking Venezuelan officers, for partnering with the FARC “to use cocaine as a weapon to ‘flood’ the United States”. A $15 million reward was offered for the capture of Maduro. On September 18th, 2021 -coinciding with Maduro’s arrival in Mexico- the US Department of State just reminded that the $15 million reward is still on.

“Maduro helped manage, and ultimately, lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials, as he gained power in Venezuela in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)”, says the official US Department of State website. Did Lopez Obrador read it?

(*) Lawyer and Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy

Translated from Spanish by; Edgar L. Terrazas, member of the American Translators Association, ATA # 234680.