An international extradition proceeding is currently underway against Héctor Manuel Gil García—alias “El Kado”—before a District Judge specializing in the adversarial criminal justice system, based at the Federal Criminal Justice Center in Mexico City (located at the Reclusorio Sur prison).
The request, submitted by the United States government, is being kept confidential by both the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) and the Attorney General’s Office (FGR). Both institutions have maintained strict secrecy regarding the specific allegations brought by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California—charges that have been pending against the defendant since 2025.
The initial procedural order in the extradition case file was issued in mid-March 2026—four months before the defendant was apprehended by federal forces on the Yucatán Peninsula.
The defendant’s efforts to expedite the resolution of his domestic criminal cases were halted following the execution of an arrest warrant for extradition purposes this October.
Gil García is currently being held at the Social Reintegration Center in Mérida, Yucatán. He faces criminal case 93/2026, which includes charges for the illegal possession of firearms reserved exclusively for the Armed Forces, possession of military-grade ammunition, and drug-related offenses—specifically, the possession of methamphetamine and marijuana with the intent to distribute.
The initiation of criminal proceedings and the imposition of mandatory pretrial detention (preventive custody) in this case were upheld by the Collegiate Appellate Court of the Fourteenth Circuit under case file 93/2026. This legal status remains in effect, even though the Collegiate Appellate Court of the Fifteenth Circuit—based in Tijuana—ordered the dismissal of criminal case 118/2016 (under appellate file 477/2026) on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired for a weapons-related offense dating back to August 2016.
Facing the risk of being transferred to a federal prison or handed over to U.S. authorities, the inmate’s defense team filed an *amparo* (constitutional protection) petition—case 1627/2026—with the Sixth District Court in the State of Yucatán.
The alleged operative for the Arellano Félix Cartel was captured in July 2026 in Kanasín, alongside his wife, while in a vehicle containing weapons and narcotics—an arrest that followed the dismantling of his operations along the northern border.
