Mexico holds drug lord temporarily for investigation
ABC News
Mexico has ordered drug lord Hector “El Güero” Palma held for 40 more days pending investigation, staving off at least temporarily what would have been international embarrassment had he walked free
MEXICO CITY -- A judge in Mexico ordered drug lord Hector “El Güero” Palma held for 40 more days in non-prison custody pending investigation Wednesday, staving off at least temporarily what would have been international embarrassment had he walked free. The attorney general’s office said the judge had granted an order to hold Palma at a prosecutors' detention facility while he is investigated on drug and organized crime charges. Mexico has a poor track record in winning organized-crime convictions, and Palma was already acquitted last week on one such count. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said earlier this week that Palma’s release could affect Mexico’s reputation, and the measure announced Wednesday appeared to be a last-ditch attempt to avoid that. Almost eight years ago, another drug lord, Rafael Caro Quintero walked out of a Mexican prison late at night with an improperly ordered release. He has since returned to drug trafficking and unleashed bloody turf battles in northern Mexico border state of Sonora.More Related News