The infamous drug lord “El Chapo” has pleaded to speak with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about “cruel and unfair” treatment in US prisons and to request an extradition.
“Joaquín asked me through verbal messages to fight for his return to Mexico,” said lawyer José Refugio Rodríguez during an interview with the Mexican outlet Radio Fórmula. “I see him as an SOS…he is suffering from a trial that was not in accordance with due process.”
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, longtime head of the multi-billion dollar Sinaloa drug cartel, was convicted in New York on February 12, 2019 of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation and sentenced to life in prison. As Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficker, he led a cartel responsible for smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors said in court documents.
Rodríguez, Guzmán’s lawyer, assured that his client has suffered “unequal” treatment in the Colorado supermax prison where he is serving his sentence, and told Radio Formula that his client “does not see the sun, the food is of very poor quality , there is no medical attention, he had a problem with his teeth and instead of treating them, they took them out so he wouldn’t get bothered”.
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Authorities escort Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman from a plane in Ronkonkoma, New York.
(US Law Enforcement via AP)
Rodríguez further stated that Guzmán has had limited opportunities to speak with his lawyers and family: only six or seven calls since March 2022. He said that he had sent a letter to Esteban Moctezuma, Mexico’s ambassador to the US, detailing the request to speak with Obrador, but has not heard any response.
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The lawyer complained that his client remains isolated, unable to speak Spanish, something he referred to as “psychological torture.” He hoped that providing the interview to Radio Formula would help bring his case to the attention of Mexican authorities and officials.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador speaks during a ceremony in the main square of Mexico City on August 13, 2021.
(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
But Rodríguez acknowledged that his client believed his human rights had already been violated when he was denied the opportunity to defend himself in Mexico and was instead extradited to the United States to stand trial.
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In this undated photo, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, left, poses with an unidentified man.
(United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York)
Guzmán, whose two dramatic prison breaks in Mexico fueled the legend that he and his family were virtually untouchable, was extradited to the United States in 2017.
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During a press conference Tuesday morning, Obrador denied any knowledge of Guzmán’s request, Mexico News Daily reported. The Mexican president said: “I haven’t seen it, but let’s see.”
Stephanie Pagones of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
