Mexico City, Mexico - The Federal Bureau of Investigation celebrates the 75th anniversary of the legal attaché program in Mexico City and the FBI’s oldest foreign law enforcement relationship. As the FBI Director’s representative overseas, the legal attaché works in close concert with host-nation law enforcement agencies to share information on matters of mutual interest.
The FBI and Mexican authorities have been working together to investigate crimes since the late 1910s, with the legal attaché office formally opening in 1940. Mexico and the United States have remained natural partners due to proximity and the emergence of international crime that has impacted both countries. Since its opening, our office in Mexico City has grown to become our largest overseas post.
“The FBI is proud to celebrate this milestone in our partnership,” said FBI Director James B. Comey. “Today we commemorate a long-standing friendship that has evolved, and will continue to evolve, through cooperation and shared interests as we seek to protect our nations from crime and security threats.”
Throughout our 75-year history, the FBI and Mexican authorities have collaborated on training programs and have worked together to combat drug trafficking and apprehend and return fugitives on both sides of the border. With the assistance of our Mexican counterparts, a total of 18 FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives have been captured in Mexico—more than anywhere else in the world.
On April 15, 1959, Frank Lawrence Sprenz was the first Ten Most Wanted Fugitive arrested by the Mexican Federal Security Police in the Yucatan Peninsula and returned to the U.S. to face charges. Most recently, Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Jose Manuel Garcia Guevara was apprehended in Mexico in 2013 and returned to Lake Charles, Louisiana in 2014.
For more information about the legal attaché program in Mexico City, visit https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/legat. To learn more about the history of the FBI’s legal attaché program, visit: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/international_operations/history.
