Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Is Losing His Mind, His Hair, And His Cartel

El Chapo Awaits Extradition

Since billionaire drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was captured a third time in January of this year, the United States has been adamant about having Mexico extradite him to the States, in order to prevent him from escaping again.

However, El Chapo’s lawyers have been just as determined to try to prevent his extradition from happening, one of them being Jose Refugio Rodriguez, who offered the world an update on the status of the infamous kingpin, after visiting him for the first time in months, in a Juárez prison.

The lawyer told Radio Formula that El Chapo is being subjected to “physical torture” and “psychological hell” and quoted his client.

“They’re making me go crazy, this is psychological torture. I would rather go through physical torture outside where the pain would eventually go away but not this, this is gradually killing me.”

El Chapo also tells him that he’s going bald and feels that he’s going to lose his mind before they extradite him.

The former leader of the Sinaloa cartel has been moved from one prison to another since being captured, and is now reportedly at a federal prison in the city of Juarez near the U.S. border.

The Associated Press recently reported on an old cartel member from decades ago named Rafael Caro Quintero who authorities feel might be trying to get back into the drug industry, to try to take over the Sinaloa cartel now that El Chapo is behind bars.

Inquisitr reported that a cartel war recently broke out between the Sinaloa and a rival cartel in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California.

The Other “Chapo” And Power Shift

Quién es el otro "Chapo" que gana poder en México: Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, "Chapo Isidro", es un nombre que… http://t.co/4kQCOpQxia

— cinefilo_chile (@laraya131) September 16, 2014

The Guardian rounded up reports from Mexican news sources saying that armed men came into La Tuna, into the mountains where El Chapo called home, and killed three people in the community, as well as looting and ransacking his mother’s home, stealing two to three vehicles.

The 86-year-old Consuelo Loera de Guzmán was apparently not there, but it’s stated by many that this shows El Chapo no longer has power over his cartel.

The gunmen were apparently from the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, and involved an affiliate group formed by Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, aka “Chapo” or “Chapito,” who is also involved with other groups near Baja California over the conflict against the Sinaloa cartel.

The Associated Press report states that El Chapo initially took over his cartel operation — which was then called The Guadalajara Cartel — after Rafael Caro Quintero was arrested for the murder of four men, one of them a DEA agent.

In the early ’90s, the Guadalajara Cartel fell apart, separating into Sinaloa — which El Chapo took over — Tijuana, and Juarez cartels

But in 2013, Quintero was released under the limits of his charges before the United States put a warrant out for his arrest, and he is currently on the run.

In both cases, the United States would have Quintero along with El Chapo extradited if they could get him.

Increased Security While Fighting Extradition

Inquisitr recently wrote about El Chapo unable to survive in a Mexican prison because many prisons are said to have been infiltrated by rival cartel Los Zetas.

It would stand to reason that this might have been looked into after his escape last year, where both the Mexican and U.S. authorities make sure he’s convicted and “put away,” leaving nothing to chance.

It would appear that the Inquisitr‘s article on possible attack from a rival against El Chapo directly isn’t too far off the mark because in the Guardian article, it refers to a report from early June of a guard for the Juarez prison El Chapo is currently in, who was found dead and had shown signs that he had been tortured.

The New York Times writes about a recent effort in late June by El Chapo’s lawyers to file appeals to halt his extradition process, saying the statute of limitations had run out on some of the crimes and/or that there was no evidence to convict him of some crimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YBHofLBJn8

The report also says that Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations approved his extradition process in May, cutting a deal with the United States that they would not seek the death penalty, which is a similar negotiation stated for the conditions of the capture of Rafael Caro Quintero.

The article makes clear that due to capital punishment being abolished in Mexico, they hold to these conditions during extradition.

If there are any concerns that El Chapo could escape again — in light of recent fake news — when the body of the guard was found, the Mexican government deployed 300 of its troops to the prison to stand guard and make sure El Chapo did not escape a third time.

[Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Images]