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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2008 
Mexico Supreme Court Rules for Extradition of Guatemalan Ex-President Portillo
 E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
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| | Alfonso Portillo, who served as president from 2000 to 2004 before fleeing to Mexico, is accused of authorizing $15 million in transfers to Guatemala's Defense Department | | |
Mexico City Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out an injunction against the extradition of former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo to his native country, but there was still a possibility he could fight being sent home.
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department ordered Portillo extradited in 2006, and Portillo took the ruling to Mexican courts and won two injunctions.
One was appealed to Mexico's Supreme Court, where Portillo's lawyers argued that Foreign Relations didn't have the constitutional authority to decide extraditions. The court disagreed.
But the court left unresolved Portillo's other argument that the extradition order was done incorrectly leaving a lower court to consider the issue.
A Supreme Court official who was not authorized to speak on the record said Wednesday's decision cleared the way for the extradition, but Portillo's lawyer Marcos Castillejos said there was still a long battle ahead.
There is no danger of extradition at this moment, Castillejos said.
Portillo, who served as president from 2000 to 2004 before fleeing to Mexico, is accused of authorizing $15 million in transfers to Guatemala's Defense Department, where officials close to him allegedly pocketed most of the cash.
He came to Mexico days after leaving office, got a work visa and began working as a financial adviser for a construction materials company. |
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