El Chapo recaptured in Mexico
Joaquin Guzman Loera, a Mexican national and alleged drug cartel leader known as El Chapo, was recaptured Friday, the New York Times reports.
Guzman, who is charged with various crimes in the United States, has escaped from Mexican prisons twice, most recently last summer. The U.S. Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration hailed the capture, but Attorney General Loretta Lynch has not said whether the DOJ would again try to have Guzman extradited to the United States, the Chicago Tribune reports. He is wanted in at least seven U.S. jurisdictions.
Guzman was imprisoned from 1993 to 2001 in Mexico, but escaped. After his recapture in 2014, Mexico’s attorney general did not want to extradite Guzman to the United States, on the basis that he should first serve time in Mexico, the New York Times reports. Guzman escaped from the Mexican maximum-security facility on July 11, 2015, shortly after the United States issued a formal extradition request.
According to the New York Times, Guzman was captured at the seaside town Los Mochis, which is in his home state of Sinaloa. The capture, lead by marines from the Mexican Navy, included significant gunfire and left five people dead, the Washington Post reports.
At least 34 people have been charged in connection with Guzman’s 2015 escape, including Guzman’s own lawyer, the ABA Journal reported in October.
