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Uzone.id – In enforcing international criminal law, extradition treaties are a form of law enforcement that is often carried out. Extradition agreements between Mexico and the US are often implemented in cases dealing with drug kingpins who distribute illegal drugs in the United States.
Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known by various aliases, including “El Chapo” was sentenced today by United States District Judge Brian M. Cogan to life in prison plus 30 consecutive years in prison following his life sentence for being a major leader of an ongoing criminal enterprise – a Mexican organized crime syndicate known as the Sinaloa Cartel – an indictment that includes 26 drug-related offenses and one murder conspiracy.
The sentence and verdict followed the investigation, which led to his extradition to the US to face charges and finally punished, by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York and Arizona, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with assistance from the US Marshal Service (USMS), the FBI, and the New York City Police Department ( NYPD). The New York HSI case was handled by the El Dorado Task Force.
In short, extradition is a form of cooperation between countries that aims to overcome crimes across national borders. Extradition practices include the formal process for a country to transfer individuals suspected of being criminal offenders to another country.
Extradition was born out of the existence of international crimes to prevent and eradicate crimes in the world that are not only faced by one country.
International crime or transnational crime is an organized crime that crosses national borders, which is defined as a form of transnational crime, one of which is the modus operandi of illegal drug trafficking organizations that have easy access to penetrate national borders through organized management or illicit drug trafficking.
In essence, international cooperation, especially in the practice of extradition, must be based on agreements and carried out through diplomatic relations. This is because extradition is a manifestation of the desire between two countries to carry out cooperation to eradicate transnational crimes through bilateral extradition agreements.
International crime is a threat to social, economic, political, security, and world peace.
In developments in the world of international law, two conventions have become references and milestones in the development of extradition practice, namely the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
The implementation of extradition requires legality or law as a written rule regarding extradition, this is because the implementation of extradition is closely related to aspects of state sovereignty and human rights. Respect for a country’s sovereignty is considered to be one of the important factors in achieving the final process of extradition, namely the surrender process.
There are legal principles that underlie extradition agreements, namely the principle of double crime, the principle of ne bis in idem, the principle of non-nationality extradition, the principle of non-political crime extradition, and the principle of specialty.
However, in its application, the principle of double crime (an offense committed by the perpetrator must constitute an offense according to the criminal law of the requesting country and the requested country) is a principle that must be fulfilled first.
One such example of extradition treaty practice is the treaty on extradition between the United States of America and the United Mexican States which was signed in Mexico City on May 4, 1978.
It contains provisions concerning crimes for which extradition is mandatory (Article 1), particular categories of crime an individual could be extradited for (Article 2), requirements for documents submitted as part of the extradition proceedings (Article 10), and other articles. Most notably, in addressing the perceived threats posed by the Mexican Drug War, both the US and Mexico engaged in active, cooperative efforts with one another.
In carrying out extradition practices, several agreements underlie extradition, one of which is the Merida Initiative which was signed in 2007.
The Merida Initiative collaboration was carried out based on the problems caused by DTO activities and the threat they pose to the US and Mexico. Violent activity between narcotics DTOs often occurs in public places in Mexico, resulting in civilian casualties.
The conflict that occurred between DTOs affected the domestic security stability of Mexico and the US with easy access to and from the borders of the two countries. Mexico’s domestic instability can also affect US domestic stability, this factor was one of the triggers for the birth of the Merida Initiative collaboration.
Since the implementation of the Merida Initiative began in 2007, the US Department of State has outlined several indicators of success, one of which is the success in increasing the number of extraditions, including the extradition of Juaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera in 2017
Extradition El Chapo can be said to be one of the major extradition processes in the history of the Mexican Drug War phenomenon because El Chapo is known to be very skilled at escaping even though he has been detained by Mexican authorities.
In the US there are approximately seven indictments against El Chapo in different circuits. El Chapo has always ensured that he does not undergo the extradition process through the legal channel in Mexico via his lawyers.
Three years ago in 2015, El Chapo’s lawyers wanted to halt his extradition process because his rights under the Mexican constitution might be violated if he was to be tried in a foreign country. This application of course was declined by the Mexican court, and on the 19th January 2017, El Chapo was extradited to the US.
The following day, El Chapo faced 17 (seventeen) charges for his status as leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, participating in an international conspiracy to produce and distribute narcotics, importing and distributing narcotics, using illegal firearms to carry out narcotics trafficking activities, and his participation in a money laundering conspiracy.
With this, El Chapo was sentenced to life imprisonment and charged a sum of 14 million US dollars before a US court.
