Mexican authorities heard an impassioned plea from the notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman following the arrest of his son Ovidio “El Raton” Guzman who was captured by Mexican authorities on Jan. 5.
Mexico has seen extensive violence linked to drug cartels since the arrest. More recently El Chapo sent a request to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for extradition from a U.S. prison. It is unlikely that this request will be accepted, though there is currently consideration in the Mexican government.
The developments come after dozens of deaths in Mexico linked to the capture. Members of the Sinaloa Cartel have been in firefights with other cartels and with Mexican authorities. The violence has killed at least 28 people. in 2015 and was subsequently captured by Mexican authorities in 2016. He was then extradited to the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment in ADX Florence in Colorado in 2019.
Mexican President AMLO says he'll 'review' drug kingpin El Chapo's request to return home https://t.co/HtRvVDpjbM pic.twitter.com/3fzanBmDpH
— New York Post (@nypost) January 19, 2023
The violence in Mexico has had intense effects in the country, especially during a January visit to Mexico City by U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It also comes as a former high-ranking Mexican official tasked with stopping the drug trade is on trial in New York for allegedly accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for looking the other way.
Genaro García Luna had been Security Secretary under former President Felipe Calderon. Luna was in charge of the war against the cartels between 2006 and 2012. According to prosecutors, the former law enforcement official accepted bribes in briefcases. He lived off of these funds even after moving to the United States prior to his arrest in 2019.
It is unclear where the violence in Mexico will lead. Lopez Obrador’s battle against drug cartels follows similar anti-gang actions in El Salvador and Honduras. Mexico’s battles against the cartels are more than two decades old and include some parts of the country effectively under the control of organized crime figures.
