The extradition of Héctor Manuel Avendaño Ojeda, alias El Meño, once again shone a spotlight on a key figure in the Sinaloa Cartel’s financial operations. On July 15, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) confirmed his surrender to U.S. authorities after spending nine years in prison following his capture in Culiacán, Sinaloa, in 2016.
Avendaño was wanted by the Federal Court for the District of Columbia, accused of criminal association and public health crimes.
According to the court file, El Meño participated in a criminal network that received cocaine shipments from South America through Colombian intermediaries, using vessels in international waters to smuggle the drugs into Mexico and subsequently distribute them within the United States. Along with his brothers—including Martín Guadencio Avendaño Ojeda, alias El Mago, who was also arrested—El Meño was part of a top-level financial and logistical structure serving Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the co-founding leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
