U.S. transfers imprisoned drug lord Hector ‘El Guero’ Palma to Mexican custody

Hector “El Guero” Palma, once among Mexico’s most notorious drug lords, was returned to Mexico on Wednesday by U.S. authorities and immediately arrested on homicide charges, Mexican authorities said.

His prompt detention averted for now the prospect of Palma going free in Mexico, an outcome that Mexican authorities were keen to avoid.

Palma, a former accomplice of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, had served almost a decade in U.S. custody on drug-related charges after being extradited to the United States in 2007.

In a statement, the Mexican federal prosecutor’s office confirmed the U.S. hand-over of Palma on Wednesday at a border gate in Matamoros, Mexico, across the Rio Grande from Texas.

Palma was arrested at the border for “his probable responsibility” for two murders in the Mexican state of Nayarit, the Mexican prosecutor’s office said, without providing further details.

Footage on Mexican television showed a tall, slim Palma, wearing a black baseball cap, being escorted by heavily armed Mexican security forces in Matamoros, a border city rife with drug-related violence. A convoy of armed vehicles spirited him away, the video showed.

The ex-drug lord was put on a plane and transported to the Altiplano federal lockup outside of Mexico City, Mexican officials said. It is same high-security prison from which Guzman escaped last July before being recaptured in January.

The recent announcement that Palma would be released from U.S. custody after serving his time had created considerable media speculation in Mexico about his fate. Palma served nine years of a 16-year U.S. sentence for cocaine trafficking and was set to be released for good behavior, according to various reports.

His repatriation presented a considerable dilemma for Mexican authorities, who were clearly dismayed at the prospect that the former drug capo could be a free man — and possibly endeavor to return to his former career.

Mexican officials appeared determined to ensure that Palma remained in custody at a time when his jailed former cartel confederate, Guzman, is fighting U.S. efforts to extradite him to the United States

Earlier this month, the Mexican attorney general, Arely Gomez, told reporters that officials were conducting an “exhaustive” review to determine what charges, if any, were still pending against Palma. On Wednesday, authorities revealed the pending homicide charges in Nayarit state.

Palma, 55, known as “El Guero” for his fair hair, was reported to have been the head of the Sinaloa cartel, which specialized in trafficking cocaine from Colombia to the United States. He was arrested in June 1995 after a small plane ferrying him to a party in the northern city of Guadalajara crashed.

He and Guzman are longtime associates. They were co-inmates at the Puente Grande prison in Jalisco state in 2001 when Guzman escaped from the lockup and, as a fugitive from justice, expanded operations of the cartel.

Cecilia Sanchez in The Times’ Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.

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