Mexico extradites top drug traffickers to the US

MEXICO CITY, Jan 20 (Reuters) Mexico has extradited drug kingpins Osiel Cardenas and Hector ''Guero'' Palma to the United States along with several other major traffickers, the government said.

President Felipe Calderon took office in December and quickly launched a major crackdown on Mexico's main drug cartels in an attempt to halt a gruesome surge in violence that claimed more than 2,000 lives last year.

Osiel Cardenas is considered the leader of the Gulf Cartel. He was arrested and imprisoned in Mexico in 2003. Hector ''Guero'' Palma is a top associate of Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin ''El Chapo'' Guzman, who heads another powerful cartel.

Guzman infamously broke out of a top security prison concealed in a laundry van.

The government said the extraditions were part of the ongoing campaign against the drug gangs.

''The Mexican state will not tolerate the violence and will respond with total strength against all criminal organizations that damage the interests of the nation,'' the president's office said in a statement yesterday.

REUTERS SY ND1236