The extradition of drugs lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to the United States has been given the green light by a judge in Mexico. One of Guzmán’s lawyers, José Refugio Rodríguez, says it is a routine move and does not mean that they are moving forward with the extradition, which Guzman is fighting.
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Any extradition attempt can be delayed or stopped by a request to the court by attorneys for the Sinaloa cartel leader.
In the event of a move to extradite, Guzman’s defense will have 30 working days to appeal.
For Howard Campbell, an expert on security at the University of Texas at El Paso and author of Drug War Zone, extraditing Guzman seems to be a sign “that the Mexican government wants to wash its hands of him and prevent future embarrassing prison escapes”. The country’s Foreign Relations Department must still approve extradition, and Guzman’s lawyers can appeal.
It was not clear why he was taken to Ciudad Juarez, the lowest rated federal prison in a 2015 National Human Rights Commission report on factors including illicit activities and violent incidents.
Hope says there’s another unlikely, but possible explanation: Authorities “might have discovered El Chapo’s actual escape plans and they chose to pre-empt it by transferring him to a different prison”.
After bribing prison guards, he was able to escape from a federal maximum-security prison in 2001. Several inmates had already escaped, but none in more brazen style than Chapo who’s pulled off the feat twice, including atop a motorcycle along a mile-long tunnel built under his cell.
Media reports are speculating that the move suggests an imminent extradition to the U.S., where he faces drug charges in seven jurisdictions but this is denied by authorities. He added that the Cefereso No. 9 is one of Mexico’s newest prisons, constructed within the last five years or so.
“It just doesn’t make any sense”, Vigil said Sunday. This was later denied by Mexican officials. He was recaptured in 2014.
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The authorities began the process of deporting him to the United States shortly after his capture in January. When Guzman was returned to prison the second time, security was tightened around him and he was placed under constant camera observation in a cell with 16 inch layers of concrete and floors that were reinforced with metal bars.
