Rather than take their chances in a Mexican prison again, authorities in Mexico have begun the process to formally extradite El Chapo to the U.S.
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Guzman had been captured on February 22, 2014 in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan after 13 years on the lam.
The extradition bid comes as new details about Guzman’s surprise meeting with Sean Penn in October emerged, with a newspaper publishing pictures showing that the United States actor was monitored by the authorities.
Officials warned the extradition process could take a long time as Guzman’s lawyers file legal appeals and manoeuvre to keep their client in Mexico, where he has already escaped from maximum security prisons twice. “Merely going and having an interview and having El Chapo expand upon his life, background, why he does what he does, that at this point seems insufficient for criminality”. Penn’s account, published in Rolling Stone, featured an unapologetic Guzman touting himself as the biggest drug supplier in the world.
In the series, del Castillo plays a young woman from Mexico who rises through the ranks of the Sinaloa drugs cartel to become the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain.
Guzman, 58, is the head of a cartel believed to be responsible for half of all the drugs smuggled into the United States from Mexico.
“The average (extradition) timeframe is one year but it could take up to five years”, Attorney General Arely Gomez told Radio Formula.
The Mexican government, however, is investigating both Penn and Kate del Castillo, the actress who arranged Penn’s meeting with Guzman, about their meeting with El Chapo.
To land the interview, Penn says, he rode “on the coattails of El Chapo’s faith in Kate”, the Mexican soap opera star who once played a drug baron and had caught Guzman’s attention.
In a brief email exchange with The Associated Press, Penn also dismissed criticism over his interview with the fugitive, who was captured on Friday, a day before Penn’s 10,000-word story was published in Rolling Stone magazine.
Now that he is recaptured, Mexico has to start processing the extradition requests anew, according to the law.
But a Mexican security official said he is being held in a different cell. Other images released Monday showed views of the tunnel Guzmán fleed through and bodies of the slain men prosecutors said opened fire on the soldiers.
Guzman escaped from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City July 11, launching an active manhunt.
During the interview with Mr Penn, Guzman declared: “I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world”.
“The truth is any reporter, any journalist, would have wanted this interview, ” said Klieman, noting that a murky area would be if someone gave material aid, refuge or anything “that continued his lack of apprehension”.
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He is wanted in various U.S. states and his July escape deeply embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto and strained ties between the countries.
