By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
MEXICO CITY, Mexico – After his February arrest in the Pacific Coast tourist resort of Mazatian, notorious drug lord Jaoquin Guzman, best known as El Chapo, will be serving out his jail sentence in Mexico. Guzman headed the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful drug smuggling enterprises in the world. Captured for the first time in 1993, Guzman was on the run as Mexico’s most wanted man after he escaped from prison in 2001. Jaoquin is currently being housed at a maximum-security prison near the capital.
Guzman is wanted in the United States on a number of criminal charges including drug smuggling, money laundering, running a criminal enterprise and murder. US Congressional leaders have called for Guzman’s extradition, but a formal request has yet to be made. Mexican Attorney General, Jesus Murillo, said that a request from Washington was imminent for the extradition of Guzman. Washington wants to prosecute Guzman on drug trafficking charges; however, the Mexican government has no plan to extradite Guzman in the imminent future. Mexican lawyer, Murillo told reporters that El Chapo will remain in Mexico to complete his sentence, and only after his sentence has been completed, which he states is “about 300 or 400 years” from now, will he be extradited to the United States.
Murillo has strongly argued that keeping Guzman in the Mexican prison system is the correct response to the situation. He has adamantly dismissed any concerns that Guzman may escape from prison a second time, stating that the risk “does not exist.” Guzman has stated that while sending the United States would save Mexico money, keeping him in the country is a mater of national sovereignty.
For more information, please see the following:
BUSINESS INSIDER – The World’s Most Notorious Drug Kingpin Won’t Be In the US Anytime Soon – 28 Jan. 2015.
DAILY PROGRESS – Mexico: Captured Drug Lord ‘Chapo’ Guzman To Stay Put – 29 Jan. 2015.
THE GUARDIAN – Mexico Rules Out ‘El Chapo’ Extradition – 28 Jan. 2015.
REUTERS – Mexico Not Planning to Extradite Drug Kingpin Guzman: Official – 28 Jan. 2015.
