Mexico arrests judge accused by US of cartel ties

Authorities arrested a Mexican judge on Friday accused by the United States of corruption and ties to the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, officials said.

“Agents from the federal prosecutor’s office detained Judge Isidro Avelar Gutierrez this afternoon in the city of Guadalajara. He is being transferred to Mexico City,” the federal judiciary council (CJF) said in a statement.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted Avelar in May, accusing him of taking bribes from Jalisco New Generation and Los Cuinis, an allied drug gang, “in exchange for providing favorable judicial rulings to their senior members.”

A week later, the CJF accused him of “financial irregularities and undeclared income,” the charges that led to his arrest.

The United States considers Jalisco New Generation one of the most dangerous criminal groups in the world, accusing the cartel of trafficking tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl-laced heroin into the US and sowing bloodshed in Mexico.