HomeNewsBrief'El Chapo' Gains Ground in Fight Against Extradition
BRIEF

'El Chapo' Gains Ground in Fight Against Extradition

EL CHAPO / 27 JAN 2015 BY LOREN RIESENFELD EN

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, has won two court injunctions in Mexico hampering his possible extradition to the United States, suggesting a protracted legal battle lies ahead.

Following a January 21 announcement by Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam that the United States will seek extradition, Guzman’s legal team scrambled to file a legal appeal known for slowing extraditions, called an “amparo.” The provisional injunction requires the government to confirm within 24 hours whether an extradition request has been received, reported Proceso.

While the US State Department has apparently not yet issued a formal request, Murillo Karam has backtracked on previous statements expressing opposition to Guzman’s extradition. According to Forbes, the Attorney General said there would be “no problem to process the request to decide, at the right time, what would be most appropriate.” That statement likely means following his successful conviction in Mexico, which could come as soon as this year.  

Murillo Karam previously said that Mexico had “no intention” of sending Guzman to face prosecution in the United States, due to US prosecutors “reaching deals with criminals,” Forbes recently reported.

InSight Crime Analysis

Mexican courts have rejected previous attempts by Guzman to block his extradition on the grounds that no formal request had been received. Rumors circulated in February 2014, shortly after Guzman’s arrest, that the United States would seek extradition, yet no formal request materialized.

Given Guzman’s recent legal successes, it appears US authorities face a long battle to get hold of the man who topped many of their “most wanted” lists prior to his capture.

SEE ALSO: Mexico News and Profiles

Extraditions have declined under President Enrique Peña Nieto, with just 19 taking place in the first half of 2013, compared to 579 during predecessor Felipe Calderon's six-year term.

The Peña Nieto administration has generally sought to only extradite criminals already successfully prosecuted in Mexico, in what is likely an attempt to demonstrate the effectiveness of the judicial system.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

FEATURED / 8 MAY 2023

The heavy regulation placed on chemical precursors used for meth and fentanyl has seen drug traffickers turn to pre-precursors instead.

COCAINE / 13 APR 2022

The arrest of yet another alleged Sinaloa Cartel emissary in Colombia has once again raised questions about the extent of…

GULF CARTEL / 28 JUN 2023

The journey thousands of migrants take to reach the US-Mexico border is filled with daily run-ins with corrupt officials and…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…