U.S. Embassy officials said Thursday they were confident the Mexican government will extradite a winery worker who has admitted killing seven people, including his two young daughters and his wife, in California.
Ramon Salcido Bojorquez, 28, was to be flown in a government plane Thursday afternoon to the capital from the northwestern Sinaloa state where he was captured early Wednesday by police who stopped the bus he was riding in to search for drug traffickers."U.S. and Mexican authorities are cooperating very closely in this case. We are sure he will be turned over soon," a U.S. Embassy spokesman said.
The spokesman said Northern California authorities were waiting to take custody of the suspect.
"It is a state crime and he is wanted there," the spokesman said.
The Sonoma County, Calif., winery worker admitted to Mexican authorities Wednesday that he killed his wife, two daughters and four others because he suspected his wife and supervisor were having an affair.
Mexican television Wednesday night broadcast an interview with Salcido from jail in which he said in Spanish, "Yes, I am guilty.
"I think I will get an American jury on the other side of the border, and I want a judge and a court that will give me a fair trial," Salcido said in his first interview after his arrest.
When asked if he wanted to be tried in Mexico, Salcido said: "Not in Mexico. I have committed homicide in the United States, and I hope to be judged on the other side of the border."
He also said he has not been charged in Mexico.
"No, I have not committed any (crimes) in this country. I was arrested in this country, but I have not committed any in this country. I came with the intention of visiting my parents for the last time and surrendering to the United States," Salcido said.
A government spokesman said that shortly after Salcido's scheduled 3:15 p.m. MDT arrival in Mexico City, he would immediately appear before a federal judge and enter a plea. Based on that, the judge would decide his legal status and the possibility of quick extradition to the United States.
If not quickly returned to California, Salcido would be arraigned in a Mexican federal court on criminal charges within 48 hours.
A source close to the extradition talks between Mexican and U.S. officials told UPI that Mexico will not extradite Salcido to the United States because of political reasons.
"But Mexico will eventually give Salcido's custody to the United States in a different way. It will deport Salcido to the United States as an undesirable person," the source said.