Guatemala on Friday handed over one of its most wanted drug fugitives to the United States, which noted the extradition as the Central American country’s “most important” in decades.
Aler Baldomero Samayoa-Recinos, whose alias is “Chicharra” (Cicada), is accused of leading a group called Los Huistas, which allegedly trafficked U.S.-bound cocaine from South America to Mexican cartels.
He was captured in Mexico in March and deported to Guatemala as a result of joint efforts between the two countries and the United States, officials said at the time.
Announcing his extradition, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said that he hoped the suspect would “share a lot of information” with US authorities to help the fight against the “scourge” of drug trafficking.
The U.S. embassy in Guatemala City described his handover as “the most important extradition in decades” by the country to the United States.
Samayoa Recinos was captured in Mexico in March in a raid carried out with the cooperation of the U.S. and Mexico, Guatemala Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez said at the time.
A federal indictment against Samayoa Recinos and his son-in-law unsealed in March 2022 accused the two of trafficking cocaine into the U.S. from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico between 2006 and 2016.
That same month, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Los Huistas, describing it as the “dominant criminal structure in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango (along the border of Guatemala and Mexico).”
In March, Samayoa Recinos told reporters from his cell that he would accept the charges against him.
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