On April 2, 1990, Dr. Humberto Alvarez-Machain was abducted by agents of the U.S. Government, from his medical office in Mexico and flown against his will to El Paso, Texas. He eventually appeared in Los Angeles federal court to answer charges he participated in the kidnapping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Rafeedie deemed the kidnapping illegal, dismissed the indictment against Alvarez-Machain and ordered him returned to Mexico. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirmed Rafeedie’s decision. The case eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the decision was reversed, and remanded back to the District Court for Alvarez-Machain to stand trial. After the government presented its’ case in chief, Judge Rafeedie granted a defense motion for summary judgment and entered a directed verdict of not guilty. Alvarez-Machain went free.

On July 25, 2024, drug kingpin Ismael Zambada-Garcia, aka El Mayo, was kidnapped from a residence in Sinaloa, Mexico, by armed gunman working for Joaquin Guzman-Lopez. Guzman-Lopez, also a wanted drug trafficking kingpin, had been negotiating his surrender with the United States for some time. Guzman-Lopez voluntarily arrived in Santa Teresa, New Mexico of his own free will, but brought Zambada-Garcia restrained, with a bag over his head, apparently attempting to sweeten his cooperation deal with the U.S. Government.

On this episode of the Truth Nation Podcast, we speak with career prosecutor Sean Carney about both cases and what will likely happen with the Zambada-Garcia case as it winds its’ way through the justice system. Carney worked on a portion of the Alvarez-Machain case in the 1990’s and is well versed on the extradition treaty issues and supreme court decision that are in play here. Did Joaquin Guzman-Lopez have a cooperation agreement in place? Was he acting as an “agent” of the United States when he conducted the kidnapping and caused multiple murders in Mexico? Did the Government of Mexico file an official protest to this act? Did the U.S. Government make the affirmative decision to circumvent an extradition treaty they had agreed to? Will any of these factors matter in the Zambada-Garcia case? All these questions are answered in this interesting legal analysis.