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While former Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, aka ‘El Chapo’, says he is suffering from ‘psychological torment’ in US custody, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Wednesday he would consider his request repatriation to his country of origin, believing that it was necessary “always to keep the door open when it comes to human rights”.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Wednesday (January 18th) that he would study the request for the repatriation of ex-drug baron Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, who complains about his conditions of detention in the United States . “When it comes to human rights, there are international bodies,” the Mexican president said during his daily press conference. “You always have to keep the door open when it comes to human rights.”
Guzman, 65, said he suffered “psychological torment” in the super-high security prison in Florence in the deserted mountains of Colorado. He is serving a life sentence there for drug trafficking, money laundering and the use of firearms. His letter was forwarded by his lawyers to the Mexican Ambassador to the United States.
One of his lawyers, José Refugio Rodriguez, told AFP he wanted Guzman “to return to Mexico” to stand trial and serve his sentence in a local prison. He mentioned the existence of “penitentiary conventions” between Mexico and the United States.
Two escapes
The grievances of “Chapo” come after the arrest of one of his sons, Ovidio Guzman, on January 5 in the state of Sinaloa (north-west) during an operation which left 29 dead (10 soldiers and 19 suspected criminals according to the authorities).
Guzman, relentless leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped twice in 2001 and 2015 from Mexican prisons. Arrested again in Mexico in January 2016, he was extradited to the United States in 2017. On July 18, 2019, he was found guilty of drug trafficking, money laundering and the use of firearms by a court of New York.
It was before the same Brooklyn court that the cocaine trafficking trial of Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexican Minister of Security between 2006 and 2012, began on Tuesday. The latter is accused of having accepted bribes for protect the Sinaloa cartel from the “Chapo”. The Mexican president described this trial as “very important” and wanted it to reveal whether the American authorities were aware of the links between Garcia Luna and the drug traffickers.
With AFP
