Blow to US extradition hopes as Mexico charges El Chapo with cocaine trafficking
Former fugitive Joaquin Guzman could face trial at home as details emerge of how the powerful drug lord evaded authorities through a network of tunnels before his capture
Mexican authorities have set in motion a legal process that makes it unlikely drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will soon face US cases also pending against him.
The Federal Judicial Council said the powerful drug lord had been formally charged under a 2009 Mexican indictment for cocaine trafficking, an action that could put him on path for a trial that would take precedence over any extradition request.
A judge has until Tuesday to decide whether a trial is warranted. Guzman, who is being held in a maximum security prison west of Mexico City, could then appeal the judge’s decision, a process that typically takes weeks or months.
Also on Monday, Guzman’s lawyers filed a petition asking a court for an injunction to block any extradition request from the United States. In the past, similar appeals by other drug suspects have taken months, and sometimes years, to resolve.
And before considering any extradition request that might come from the US, Mexican officials also must weigh whether to renew other charges against Guzman. When he escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 he was serving convictions for criminal association and bribery, and he was awaiting trial on charges of murder and drug trafficking.
What to do with Guzman is a politically sensitive subject for President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has sought to carve out more control over joint anti-drug efforts with the United States. Analysts said his administration is likely torn between the impulse to move Guzman to a high security US facility and the desire to show that Mexico can successfully retry and incarcerate the former fugitive head of the world’s most powerful drug cartel.