“La Gallina”, “El Chapo’s” Lieutenant Arrested in Yucatán, Will be Extradited to the US

A Collegiate Court authorized the extradition of Roberto Nájera Gutiérrez, alias “La Gallina,” a lieutenant of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, who was arrested in Yucatán.

“La Gallina” was a regional boss in southeastern Mexico, including the Yucatán Peninsula, as well as Belize, in regions where he managed the illicit businesses of the drug lord now imprisoned in the United States.

The criminal leader, who is wanted by a Federal Court in Georgia to be prosecuted for the crimes of criminal conspiracy and cocaine trafficking, committed between 2013 and 2018, appealed the decision of the Seventh District Judge in Criminal Matters in Mexico City, who denied him protection and relief from the court against his transfer to the neighboring country to the north.

However, the First Collegiate Court in Criminal Matters confirmed the appealed sentence, determining that the judge complied with the requirements and procedures established to authorize his surrender to the US authorities.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) authorized the extradition of Roberto Nájera Gutiérrez “La Gallina” on December 17, 2024. He was arrested for the second time in February 2017 at a checkpoint of the Yucatán State Police, where three 9-millimeter pistols, two AK-47 assault rifles, and bulletproof vests were seized.

Originally from Chiapas, Nájera Gutiérrez was first arrested in 2013 by the now-defunct Federal Police, but he regained his freedom; he was attributed with controlling drug trafficking in Chiapas, Veracruz, Campeche, and Yucatán, and was a financial operator for the Sinaloa Cartel in the southeast.

According to US authorities, Nájera Gutiérrez led a criminal organization linked to the Sinaloa Cartel that trafficked drugs and laundered money on a large scale between December 2013 and March 2018, on Mexico’s southern border. “An investigation conducted by law enforcement authorities identified a large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering organization operating in Chiapas, Veracruz, and Campeche, between approximately December 2013 and March 2018, which was responsible for transporting cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine from Belize and Guatemala into Mexico for eventual importation into the United States,” the U.S. indictment reads.

“La Gallina” was identified as one of the leaders and organizers responsible for overseeing the criminal organization’s drug trafficking and money laundering activities.

Source: Diario de Yucatán