Mexican President: Chapo Won't Be Extradited…For Now

By Fusion Staff  |  February 27, 2014 | 4:48am
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Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto thinks recently captured drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán should face justice in his home country before he is extradited to the United States.

“Here is a criminal who has to face Mexican justice. He has to face charges in Mexico that the Attorney General’s office has initiated,” Peña Nieto told Fusion’s Leon Krauze on Wednesday. “And I insist, this doesn’t preclude that eventually, at some point, hard to determine right now… eventually [he] could be extradited to face charges in the United States.”

On Tuesday, Mexican judges ruled that Guzman, who before his capture was considered the most wanted man in the world, will be tried on charges related to drug trafficking and organized crime.

He faces similar charges in the United States: Guzman and his Sinaloa cartel are named in indictments for marijuana, cocaine and heroin trafficking, as well as money laundering, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder by district attorneys in San Diego, New York, Chicago, Texas, Florida and New Hampshire.

While Pena Nieto didn’t rule out eventually extraditing Guzman, he said the drug lord should first face trial in his home country.

“For now, he should face the charges he has in front of the Mexican justice system,” he said.

More from Fusion’s interview with Enrique Peña Nieto:

Peña Nieto: Mexicans Are Indignant Over Humanitarian Crisis Caused By Deportations

@JaredGoyette is a digital news editor at Fusion.

 
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