Mexico has approved the extradition of drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán to the U.S. Earlier this month, it was announced El Chapo, or rather his story, would be coming to Netflix and to TV. In March it was announced that plans to bring El Chapo to the big screen in a biopic were moving forward.
According to the Associated Press, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department agreed to the extradition of El Chapo to the U.S.
The U.S. has reportedly given Mexico "adequate guarantees" that Guzmán would not face the death penalty reports the AP. Mexico, which doesn't have capital punishment a.k.a. the death penalty, doesn't extradite people who may face the death penalty for crimes they've been charged with.
"We have agreed not to seek the death penalty, which is consistent with our extradition assurance policies with Mexico," said a U.S. official who the AP reports could not be quoted by name.
However, Guzmán can appeal the ruling within the next 30 days. Guzmán's lawyers have already said they will be appealing reports the AP.
The ruling on Friday was in response to an extradition request from a Texas federal court and a California federal court. The APreports the Texas extradition request was in regards to charges of conspiracy, organized crime, money laundering, murder, and weapons possession.
Guzmán faces charges from seven U.S. federal prosecutors including major cities such as New York, Chicago, and Miami.
One of Guzmán’s lawyers, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, said they would be appealing the decision and reportedly told Milenio Televisión that an extradition would take "at least one to three years."
The AP reports Rodriguez was not surprised by the ruling and that Guzmán was "calm" about the ruling.
"He knows and is conscious that the real battle against extradition is going to be waged through the constitutional appeals process," said Rodriguez.
But one person thinks El Chapo will resort to other violent methods instead of relying on the appeals process. A former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Mike Vigil, said:
"That could lead to violence against the government, to intimidate violence against the judicial system, against individuals that will have something to do with his extradition, and if he can't get to them, he'll go after their families." He added, "That's a very strong possibility that he will launch a frontal assault on the Mexican government, to try to intimidate the government to stop his extradition."
