Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
|
|
U.S. Extradites Suspected Drug 'Queen' from Mexico
Mexico City (CNN) -- "U.S. authorities on Thursday extradited one of the most high-profile women accused of connections with Mexico's drug trade,
officials said.
Mexican police handed over Sandra Avila Beltran, known as "The Queen of the Pacific," to U.S. marshals at an airport in central Mexico Thursday
morning, Mexico's Attorney General's Office said in a statement.
She will face cocaine trafficking charges in a federal court in Florida, prosecutors said.
Avila was once a key drug trafficking link between Colombia and Mexico, prosecutors have said. She was arrested in Mexico City on September 28, 2007,
smiling before cameras as authorities trumpeted her detention.
Since then, her life has been the subject of a best-selling book and a popular ballad.
"The more beautiful the rose, the sharper the thorns," says one line in "The Queen of Queens," Los Tigres del Norte's song describing Avila.
Her eye-catching nickname has regularly made headlines as Mexico's case against her made its way through the nation's courts.
A judge convicted her on money laundering charges, but ruled that Mexican prosecutors didn't provide enough evidence to convict her of drug
trafficking.
In 2011, authorities in Mexico City said they were investigating a tip that prison medical personnel had allowed a doctor to give Avila a Botox
injection.
Avila denied that accusation, Mexico's state-run Notimex news agency reported.
For more than two years, Avila has tried to block a U.S. extradition request. A Mexican judge ruled that she could be extradited in June.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Avila was suspected of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. along with Juan Diego
Espinosa, a Colombian national who was also known as "The Tiger."
U.S. authorities extradited Espinosa from Mexico in 2008.
The DEA said that in November 2001, Espinosa, Avila and others "allegedly arranged the shipment of cocaine from Colombia to the United States by
ship." The ship, loaded with 9,291 kilograms of cocaine, was boarded by U.S. agents near Manzanillo, on Mexico's Pacific coast.
In a 2009 interview with Anderson Cooper that aired on "60 Minutes" and CNN, Avila denied the charges against her, and blamed Mexico's government for
allowing drug trafficking to flourish.
"In Mexico there's a lot of corruption, A lot. Large shipments of drugs can come into the Mexican ports or airports without the authorities knowing
about it. It's obvious and logical. The government has to be involved in everything that is corrupt," she said."
CNN's Rafael Romo and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
|
|
|
Cisco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4196
Registered: 12-30-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
Mexico City (CNN) -- "U.S. authorities on Thursday extradited one of the most high-profile women accused of connections with Mexico's drug trade,
officials said.
Mexican police handed over Sandra Avila Beltran, known as "The Queen of the Pacific," to U.S. marshals at an airport in central Mexico Thursday
morning, Mexico's Attorney General's Office said in a statement.
She will face cocaine trafficking charges in a federal court in Florida, prosecutors said.
Avila was once a key drug trafficking link between Colombia and Mexico, prosecutors have said. She was arrested in Mexico City on September 28, 2007,
smiling before cameras as authorities trumpeted her detention.
Since then, her life has been the subject of a best-selling book and a popular ballad.
"The more beautiful the rose, the sharper the thorns," says one line in "The Queen of Queens," Los Tigres del Norte's song describing Avila.
Her eye-catching nickname has regularly made headlines as Mexico's case against her made its way through the nation's courts.
A judge convicted her on money laundering charges, but ruled that Mexican prosecutors didn't provide enough evidence to convict her of drug
trafficking.
In 2011, authorities in Mexico City said they were investigating a tip that prison medical personnel had allowed a doctor to give Avila a Botox
injection.
Avila denied that accusation, Mexico's state-run Notimex news agency reported.
For more than two years, Avila has tried to block a U.S. extradition request. A Mexican judge ruled that she could be extradited in June.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Avila was suspected of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. along with Juan Diego
Espinosa, a Colombian national who was also known as "The Tiger."
U.S. authorities extradited Espinosa from Mexico in 2008.
The DEA said that in November 2001, Espinosa, Avila and others "allegedly arranged the shipment of cocaine from Colombia to the United States by
ship." The ship, loaded with 9,291 kilograms of cocaine, was boarded by U.S. agents near Manzanillo, on Mexico's Pacific coast.
In a 2009 interview with Anderson Cooper that aired on "60 Minutes" and CNN, Avila denied the charges against her, and blamed Mexico's government for
allowing drug trafficking to flourish.
"In Mexico there's a lot of corruption, A lot. Large shipments of drugs can come into the Mexican ports or airports without the authorities knowing
about it. It's obvious and logical. The government has to be involved in everything that is corrupt," she said."
CNN's Rafael Romo and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report. |
Sorry, I don't know how to do that little box thingy around just one part of a paragraph.
You said: "The ship, loaded with 9,291 kilograms of cocaine, was boarded by U.S. agents near Manzanillo, on Mexico's Pacific coast."
Why was it boarded by U.S. agents while in Mexico???
Or did they mean agents from the United States of Mexico?
|
|
|
Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
|
|
Hi Cisco
Without having any specific knowledge, I would venture to guess that a lot of these news reports are intentionally vague on some of the details
It's all about good PR.
Just my two centavos (worth about one twentieth of a penny).
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
|
|
|
Cisco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4196
Registered: 12-30-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
Without having any specific knowledge, I would venture to guess that a lot of these news reports are intentionally vague on some of the details
It's all about good PR.
Just my two centavos (worth about one twentieth of a penny). |
Worth a lot more.
Very much enjoy your postings.
Thank You.
|
|
|
Cyanide41
Nomad
Posts: 303
Registered: 1-7-2009
Location: Tijuana
Member Is Offline
|
|
Sounds like Selma Hayek's character in the movie Savages.
|
|
|
jeans
Super Nomad
Posts: 1059
Registered: 9-16-2002
Member Is Offline
Mood: Encantada
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Cisco
Sorry, I don't know how to do that little box thingy around just one part of a paragraph. |
Just click Quote, remove the words you don't want, making sure you have the " [ / quote]" after the last word you want included. Check your editing
handiwork in Preview Post
Mom always told me to be different - Now she says...Not THAT different
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
