Mexico Is Considering Extradition of Escaped Drug Lord Known as El Chapo
Mexico Is Considering Extradition of Escaped Drug Lord Known as El Chapo
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After long resisting requests from Washington, the Mexican government is now actively considering extraditing JoaquÃn Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, to the United States to face drug and murder charges there, Mexican officials said on Saturday
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the government had not formally announced the decision, said the process could take months as it goes through the judicial system. Mr. Guzmán’s lawyers are expected to fight extradition to the United States, where he faces at least seven indictments in federal courts on charges of drug trafficking and murder
A spokesman for President Enrique Peña Nieto declined to comment and, given the controversial nature of extradition within Mexico, it remained possible that the government would stick to its longstanding refusal to send Mr. Guzman to the United States until he first serves time in Mexico
Mr. Guzmán, who escaped from prison last year, was captured on Friday after a gun battle near the coast in his home state, Sinaloa. His capture was the culmination of a monthslong manhunt in the mountains of the so-called Golden Triangle, a rugged area in the northwest of the country. After an intense gunfight in the coastal city of Los Mochis, Mr. Guzmán was captured attempting to flee in a vehicle with one of his top lieutenants
Extraditing Mr. Guzmán would be an about-face for the government, which has in the past resisted efforts to extradite the drug lord as a matter of sovereignty. Mr. Guzmán, the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, would first serve his time in Mexico before he was sent to the United States, officials said
Almost exactly one year ago, Jesus Murillo Karam, the Mexican attorney general at the time, said: “I can accept extradition, but when I say so. ‘El Chapo’ has to stay here and do his time, then I’ll extradite him. Some 300, 400 years later. That’s a lot of time
Even as recently as three weeks before his escape from prison, through a mile-long tunnel connected to his shower stall, the United States had made a formal extradition request for Mr. Guzmán
