Hector Palma: Release of Sinaloa cartel's ex-leader blocked
Published
3 days ago
Héctor Palma Salazar has been in jail for almost 28 years
By Vanessa Buschschlüter
BBC News
Mexico's public prosecutor has blocked the release from jail of notorious drug lord Héctor Palma, hours after a judge ordered that he should be freed.
Palma, 63, founded the powerful Sinaloa cartel with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and has spent the past 28 years in jails in the US and in Mexico. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2005.
However, a judge said on Tuesday there was not enough proof to hold him on separate charges of organised crime. Palma's criminal career was portrayed in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico.
Judge María Dolores Olarte ruled that the arguments presented by prosecutors linking Palma, who is widely known as "El Güero (Spanish for someone with fair skin or light-coloured eyes and hair), to organised crime were mostly "unfounded".
More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-65544130
