Mexico City (AFP) – US authorities turned over veteran drug lord Hector “El Guero” Palma Salazar to Mexico on Wednesday after he spent nine years in prison in California.
The US embassy said the 56-year-old Sinaloa drug cartel honcho, whose nickname means “Blondie,” was delivered by US immigration officers five days after his release from prison.
The embassy did not release more details about the handover but the Televisa network showed images of US agents delivering Palma to Mexican counterparts at the border bridge linking the Texas city of Brownsville and the Mexican city of Matamoros.
In the images, the mustachioed Palma is wearing a button-down shirt, pants and a dark baseball cap. Once in the hands of Mexican officials, he no longer had handcuffs.
Mexico’s attorney general has said that prosecutors were looking for any open cases against Palma.
Palma was a top associate of Sinaloa drug cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who was recaptured in January after escaping from a maximum-security penitentiary last year.
Palma was arrested by Mexican authorities in 1995 and extradited north in 2007.
After his extradition, he pled guilty before a US court and was sentenced to 16 years in prison for transporting 50 kilograms of cocaine. He was released last Friday.
The embassy said he was returned to Mexico after serving nine years because of good behavior and the five years he spent in a Mexican prison while waiting for extradition, which counted as time served.
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