REQUEST TO EXTRADITE "EL TAQUERO" SENT TO MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Guatemala, September 30, 2011. As requested by the Public Prosecutor’s Office before the judge of the First Court for High-Risk Matters, the General Secretariat of the Supreme Court of Justice remitted Marvin Leonel Barrios' (also known as Marvin Montiel Marín), alias "El Taquero", and Sara Elizabeth Cruz Mansilla's extradition authorization to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The couple was arrested for the purposes of extradition on August 16 in Mexico, at the behest of the State of Guatemala.

The charges against them are: "El Taquero" is accused of murder, criminal association, conspiracy to obtain and traffic illegal drugs. Cruz Mansilla is accused of criminal association.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is authorized to forward the extradition request to its equivalent ministerial office in Mexico, prior to the process being undertaken and pursuant to the extradition agreement between the two countries, so that the formal extradition request for the above-mentioned individuals can be granted.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) and CICIG hope that, in the course of the year, "El Taquero" and his partner Sara Elizabeth Cruz Mansilla will be sent to Guatemala, where they will face the appropriate local authorities to respond to the charges filed against them.

Background:
On November 8, 2008, Montiel Marín, a suspected drug trafficker in the Zacapa area, and a group of hired killers, intercepted a bus en route from Nicaragua carrying 16 passengers. They then took the bus to Marín's ranch in Rio Hondo. At the ranch, all the people travelling on the bus were murdered and then doused in gasoline and burned.

In the same case, two people have been convicted and four more are set to face oral proceedings.