Ex-Los Zetas cartel leader makes post-extradition court appearance

WASHINGTON (CN) — A former leader of the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel appeared before a federal judge Friday, a week after being extradited to the United States to face charges related to his role in one of the most feared drug cartels. 

Eleazar Medina Rojas, also known as “El Chelelo,” was the regional boss for the cartel in charge of Monterrey, the second largest city after Mexico City, between 2000 and 2010, where prosecutors say he oversaw shipments of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine from Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico into the United States.

During the brief Friday hearing, Rojas’ defense lawyer Alfred Guillaume said that his client consented to remaining in detention for the time being. Guillaume said that because Rojas had just been extradited, he needed more time to prepare a defense and fight for his client’s release at a future hearing. 

Authorities arrested Rojas in Mexico in 2018 in connection to a long-running investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency into the Los Zetas and Gulf Cartels, which were then the two dominant drug organizations in the country. He was caught during a traffic stop where he tried to use a fake ID to evade detection. The U.S. began the process of extradition when Rojas arrived in prison but Rojas resisted, delaying it until July 6, according to the government’s request for pretrial detention. 

Rojas was charged along with 25 other high-ranking members of the two cartels, known collectively as “La Compañia” when the two were allied between 2000-2010. The groups have become rivals since, and both have fractured and lost influence to organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel.

The indictment charges Rojas with one count of manufacturing and distributing cocaine and marijuana to be imported into the U.S. If convicted, he faces a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison.

U.S. agents had tried to extradite Rojas after an earlier arrest in 2007, but it never materialized. 

Los Zetas, which was originally the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel, is infamous for its brutal violence and role in several atrocities, such as the 2011 San Fernando massacre where 193 bus passengers were kidnapped and killed by the group. 

Law enforcement says Rojas embodied that brutality. According to Michael Deibert’s book “In the Shadow of Saint Death: The Gulf Cartel and the Price of America’s Drug War in Mexico,” federal police in Mexico considered Rojas “one of the major killers and kidnappers in service of the Gulf Cartel.”  

According to the government’s pretrial detention request, prosecutors are confident in their case against Rojas, calling the evidence “overwhelming.” 

“The evidence includes testimony from foreign law enforcement about narcotic and money seizures in Mexico and Texas, intercepted communications of the Defendant and his co-conspirators, and the testimony of witnesses who engaged in the charged conduct with the Defendant,” prosecutors wrote. 

Rojas will next appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui on July 24. 

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