Guess What, El Chapo Extradition Not Going To Be Sped Up

El Chapo Guzman has, for a long time, been one of the most sought after drug lords in Mexico. Having gotten into the drug trafficking business while in his 20s, thanks to Pedro Avilés Pérez, his uncle, he is said to be the most powerful drug lord of recent times. His uncle is said to have mentored him, and is believed to be one of the pioneers of drug trafficking in Mexico. He died in 1978 following a shootout with police in Sinaloa, and is widely credited for starting large scale drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States.

After his death, El Chapo is said to have taken his place and continued with the trade with associates such as Ernesto Fonseca, Miguel Ángel Felix Gallardo, and Rafael Caro Quintero, who would later go on to form the Guadalajara cartel. Recaptured this year following an audacious escape from a maximum security prison via a 1.5 kilometer tunnel, El Chapo’s incarceration in 2014 was said to have been the result of a betrayal by close associates.

Apparently, Margarito and Pedro Flores, drug trafficking twins who were in charge of drug distribution for El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel, sold him out, along with 54 other drug traffickers, leading to their capture. The following is an excerpt of a report on this, as reported by Borderland Beat.

“A large part of the lives of the Flores brothers is a mystery: the United States authorities decided to classify whatever archive that spoke of their past.

“But El Universal had access to more than 500 judicial documents that permitted to know how the twins were introduced the Sinaloa Cartel to Chicago and how, later, they contributed to the capture of 54 narco traffickers in the United States associated to this criminal group, in addition to becoming key to the capture of El Chapo in Mexico, transformed into undercover DEA informants.”

Having first met El Chapo Guzman in 2005 in Sinaloa, after being introduced to representatives of the cartel by their father, a small time drug dealer, they were able to make major deals with his organization, and are said to have been given drugs on credit by the cartel. According to witnesses, the brothers are said to have gained more than a billion dollars as a result.

Presently, El Chapo Guzman is awaiting extradition to the United States. And according to a report by CNN, his legal defence team, has, since March, been seeking fast extradition of El Chapo to the United States in compliance with his request, citing unbearable conditions at Altiplano prison. The following is a statement offered by the site in regards to this.

“The defense team for the notorious criminal, and two-time prison escapee, has asked to speed up the process to get him out of Mexican custody and into the hands of U.S. authorities, a senior Mexican law enforcement official told CNN on Wednesday.

“While it’s not clear where Guzman might end up in the United States (he faces a litany of charges in various cities, like Chicago and New York), the Mexican official predicted he’ll be there within the next two to three months.”

However, according to the Guardian, Jose Manuel Merino, from Mexico’s attorney general’s office, said no such request has been received, at least to his knowledge. El Chapo’s trial in an American court is said to be invaluable as it would reveal just how much his cartel has penetrated Mexican and American security and judicial institutions. His Sinaloa cartel is said to be the biggest drug trafficking organization in the United States, supplying tons of drugs from across the Mexican border each year.

[AP Photo/Marco Ugarte]