Former Mexican Drug Cartel Leader Released From U.S. Prison

Drug trafficker Osiel Cardenas Guillen is shown in this image released by the Mexican government. Guillen was captured by the Mexican army after a gunfight March 14, 2003 in the city of Matamoros, Mexico.

A former drug cartel leader has been released from United States prison after serving 14 years out of his 25-year prison sentence. 

Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former head of the Gulf cartel, was taken into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. 

According to officials who spoke to Reuters, Guillén founded the Zetas, a group of former Mexican special forces soldiers who served as his hit squad and private army.

Cárdenas Guillén was ordered to forfeit $50 million from his criminal enterprise and received a 25-year prison sentence in 2010 for allegedly threatening to kill and assault federal agents. Why he did not complete his sentence is unknown. 

The Associated Press reported that an official in Mexico claims Cárdenas Guillén is facing two arrest warrants and they may deport him.

Leo Silva, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who previously worked in Mexico to combat the Zetas, told Reuters that the Cárdenas Guillén “generated a new era of organized crime” and “unleashed this mentality of creating fear in the country.” 

Silva also reportedly blamed Cárdenas Guillén for the rise in cartel-related violence in Mexico over the last 20 years.

The Associated Press also reported that the Zetas frequently killed dozens of people, beheaded them, or dumped piles of severed bodies on public roads as part of their terror attacks.

“El Mata Amigos,” which translates to “The one who kills his friends,” was Cárdenas Guillén’s own nickname. 

The 57-year-old formerly made millions of dollars and moved tons of cocaine through the Gulf cartel, which was based in the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros.

After being captured in 2003, he was extradited to the United States four years later. By 2010, the Zetas had established themselves as a distinct cartel, launching terror-style attacks as far south as Tabasco in Mexico, until the leaders were assassinated or detained in 2012–2013.

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