Mexico to extradite drug boss Guzman to
U.S., won't face death penalty
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[May 21, 2016]
By Luis Rojas and Gabriel Stargardter
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico approved
the extradition of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United
States on Friday after receiving guarantees he would not face the death
penalty, and the kinkgpin's lawyers vowed to block the move.
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Recaptured drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by soldiers
at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico
City, Mexico January 8, 2016. REUTERS/Henry Romero |
Juan Pablo Badillo, one of Guzman's lawyers, told Reuters he would
file "many" legal challenges in the coming days, which could delay
the drug lord's eventual extradition for weeks.
Guzman, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was the world's most wanted
drug kingpin until his capture in January, six months after he broke
out of a high-security penitentiary in central Mexico through a
mile-long tunnel burrowed right up into his cell.
Mexico's foreign ministry said he would face charges including drug
trafficking, money laundering and murder in U.S. federal courts in
California and Texas. The ministry said it was given "sufficient
guarantees" by the U.S. government that Guzman would not be
executed. It was not immediately clear where Guzman would be sent in
the United States.
A U.S. Justice Department official confirmed that the United States
had agreed not to seek the death penalty, but declined to discuss
any further details about the case or what the department will do
pending a Guzman appeal.
Asked whether he would file legal challenges on behalf of Guzman,
Badillo said: "Of course. Five, 10, whatever is necessary."
Guzman's escape last year was a major embarrassment to President
Enrique Pena Nieto, who entered office amid a bloody war between the
government and drug cartels launched by his predecessor.
Pena Nieto dialed back cooperation with the United States after
taking office in 2013, but soon after Guzman's recapture in January
he said he had taken steps to ensure the kingpin would be extradited
as soon as possible.
Mike Vigil, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief of
international operations, said he did not think the United States
needed to do much to convince Mexico to extradite Guzman, since the
longer he stayed in the country, the more opportunities the drug
lord would have to stage another potentially embarrassing jailbreak.
Vigil said Mexican officials told him that it is currently costing
the government $100,000 per week to keep the kingpin in prison.
"Mexico knows they have no penitentiary that can hold him given
their limited resources and his power to intimidate," said Vigil,
who now works as an independent consultant. "I believe he will
definitely die in a U.S. prison cell."
Earlier this month, Guzman was moved from a jail in central Mexico
to a prison in Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border, seen as a step
closer to extradition.
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Mexican authorities say they tracked Guzman down after he sought to
make a movie about his life and met with Mexican actress Kate del
Castillo and Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, who published an
interview with the drug boss in Rolling Stone.
In a plot worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, the trio met at a
jungle hideout, unwittingly monitored by Mexican security forces.
Guzman was finally apprehended around 3 months later as he sought to
flee through drains from a safehouse in his native state of Sinaloa
along with his chief hitman.
Guzman, whose nickname means "Shorty", first escaped prison in 2001
by bribing prison officials, and went on to dominate the world of
Mexican drug trafficking.
He was recaptured by Pena Nieto's government in 2014 but escaped in
July by capitalizing on the drug-tunneling skills his cartel honed
on the U.S. border.
A mile-long tunnel equipped with electric lights, rails and a
motorbike came out directly into the shower of his prison cell and
he simply slipped away.
Dozens of people were arrested over the jailbreak, though details of
who Guzman bribed and how his accomplices knew exactly where to dig
into the prison remain scarce.
With Chapo back behind bars, his more discreet partner, Ismael "El
Mayo" Zambada, who jointly heads the powerful Sinaloa cartel, is the
last major Mexican capo standing.
(Additional reporting buy Julia Harte in Washington,; Writing by
Michael O'Boyle and Simon Gardner; Editing by Tom Brown and Andrew
Hay)
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