Mexico’s infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, whose escape from a maximum-security prison made headlines last summer, is to be extradited to the U.S. and face punishment for his role in distributing a majority of America’s cocaine and heroin as well as his bloody past encounters with rival drug cartels.
The Mexican government’s decision to extradite him goes against questionable decisions of the past: upon el Chapo’s first recapture in July 2014, Mexican authorities insisted on detaining Joaquin Guzman and “[made] it a point of pride they could…successfully convict him for his role in the Sinaloa drug cartel.” However, it was not to pass—Guzman escaped last July through a mile long tunnel out of the country’s most impenetrable prison, leading Mexican authorities to make their risk-mitigating decision. Despite the logical reasoning and attempt to prevent the Mexican president’s ratings from falling during another potential escape, some see it as a self-admission of incapability by the Mexican government.
“[It’s] a way of saying, “I’m stepping around this judicial problem, because I don’t have the sufficient capacity to handle it,”” Mexican criminologist Martin Barron Cruz said, noting the humiliation some feel in having to extradite him to the United States. El Chapo’s ability to bribe prison workers, guards, and other officials have seen him live lavishly behind bars and even oversaw some of his escapes: however, the extradition indicates a new seriousness that could end his reign.
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