MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico and Chile agreed on Thursday to speed up the extradition of Chilean citizen Raul Escobar Poblete, wanted in his home country for allegedly participating in the 1991 murder of senator Jaime Guzman, a close ally of late dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Escobar Poblete, then a member of the leftist paramilitary Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR), was arrested last week by Mexican police after being on the run from Chilean authorities for two decades.

“The Foreign Ministers of Mexico and Chile agreed to give the highest priority to the case of Raul Escobar Poblete, detained last week in Mexico, so that his extradition process will proceed in a speedy manner,” Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Chile’s right-wing UDI party, which was founded by Guzman, asked socialist President Michelle Bachelet to request the extradition of Escobar Poblete.

A Chilean judge on Monday started the process to request extradition.