Extradited Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ arrives in US
NEW YORK: Mexican drug baron Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, one of the world’s most notorious criminals, was extradited to the United States on Thursday to face charges on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Guzman heads the Sinaloa cartel, of appeals rejected his latest bids which is accused of generating much to avoid extradition. of the deadly violence in Mexico’s The appeals court ruled that decades-long drug war and providing the extradition conformed with a tons of narcotics to the United States. bilateral treaty and that Guzman’s
The drug kingpin landed at rights had not been violated, the MacArthur Airport on Long Island, statement said. the US Justice Department said. The US Justice Department exUS television broadcast footage of tended “its gratitude to the governwhat appeared to be his convoy arment of Mexico for their extensive riving outside a New York jail, the cooperation and assistance.” street outside bristling with heavily But one of Guzman’s lawyers, Silarmed US Marshalls. via Delgado, told Milenio television
His extradition caps a Hollythat she was surprised by the extrawood-worthy cat-and-mouse game dition, calling it “illegal” because between Mexican authorities and another legal petition was pending. the slippery 59-year-old drug lord, In May, the Mexican foreign minwho escaped from prison twice. istry approved extradition bids from
His feats turned him into a legCalifornia, where he is wanted for end of Mexico’s underworld, with drug distribution, and Texas, where musicians singing his praises in folk he faces a slew of charges including ballads known as “narcocorridos”— murder and money laundering. tributes to drug capos. -
US prosecutors said Brooklyn day (American Time), has publicly federal attorney Robert Capers clashed with Mexico over trade and will hold a news conference at immigration issues. The Republican 10: 00 am— less than two hours president-elect has pledged to build before Trump’s inauguration— a wall on the US-Mexican border. to announce his extradition and Alejandro Hope, a prominent arraignment. Mexican security expert, said the
Guzman is charged in six separate decision to extradite Guzman in indictments throughout the United the last hours of Barack Obama’s States, one of which is in New York. presidency and before Trump takes
The drug baron had fought des perately against extradition since be“They didn’t want Trump to be ing recaptured almost exactly a year able to brag about it, so they manago in his home state of Sinaloa fol lowing his second daring jailbreak. minutes of the Obama administra
President Enrique Pena Nieto tion,” he told AFP. previously refused to extradite GuzBut Alejandro Almazan, author man, but he changed tack after his of Guzman biography “The Most latest escape in July 2015. Wanted,” said the kingpin was
He had been held most recently “a gift to Trump” because Pena in prison in Ciudad Juarez, which Nieto wants good relations with borders Texas, after being abruptly the new US leader. transferred from a penitentiary near Alberto Elias Beltran, Mexico’s Mexico City last May. deputy attorney general for international affairs, denied that the timing was politically motivated.
Timing: Dig at Trump?
The Mexican foreign ministry said he was handed over to US authorities after the Supreme Court and a court
Daring escapes
He said the government does
Handout picture released by the Mexican Interior Ministry on January 20, 2017, shows Joaquin Guzman Loera aka “El Chapo” Guzman (C) being escorted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personal as he is extradited to the United States on January 19, 2017, in an unknowen location. not intervene in judicial rulings, that the case was resolved on Thursday and that Guzman had to be delivered “immediately” under the terms of the international treaty.
Guzman was first captured in Guatemala in 1993, only to escape from a maximum-security prison in western Mexico in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart.
Marines backed by the US Drug Enforcement Administration arrested him in February 2014 in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan, where he was staying with his wife and twin daughters.
But Guzman escaped from prison again in spectacular fashion just 17 months later.
His henchmen dug a 1.5- kilometer (one-mile) tunnel that opened into his cell’s shower at the Altiplano prison near Mexico City, allowing him to slip out and
Guzman was recaptured January 2016.
Authorities said they tracked him down after Guzman held a clandestine meeting with US actor Sean Penn and MexicanAmerican actress Kate del Castillo, with whom he exchanged
His arrest likely leaves his long- time associate, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, at the helm of the Sinaloa cartel.
But Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the extradition weakens the group.
“There will be an internal fight between his sons and the sons of other of the founders,” Benitez Manaut said. “It could be violent— or maybe it could be peaceful.” in