Mexico to consider jailed drug kingpin El Chapo's request to return from US

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday (January 18) that he would consider a plea by jailed drug kingpin El Chapo (Joaquin Guzman), 65, to return from the United States to complete his sentence on humanitarian grounds. Speaking to reporters, President Obrador said the government will review the plea, adding, it was unclear if it had the power to grant the request. "But the door must always be left open when it comes to human rights," Obrador said, news agency AFP reported.

El Chapo, the founder of the Sinaloa cartel, has been serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado, US, after he was convicted in 2019 of charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related offences. On Tuesday, Chapo's lawyer Jose Refugio Rodriguez said that the drug kingpin appealed to President Obrador for help due to alleged "psychological torment" he had been suffering at the Colorado prison.

ALSO READ | Mexico govt says 29 killed in operation to arrest drug kingpin El Chapo's son

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"In the six years that Joaquin has been in the United States, he has not seen the sun," Rodriguez said, adding the message to Obrador, described as an SOS, was transmitted via one of El Chapo's lawyers in the US as well as his family. In an interview with Radio Formula, the lawyer said that Chapo is only allowed outside three times a week to a small area where he "doesn't get the sun," and has fewer visits or phone calls than other prisoners.

Rodriguez also said that the 65-year-old drug kingpin wants President Obrador to address the procedural violations during his extradition in 2017 under the previous government, AFP further reported.

In a separate development on Tuesday, the Mexico Embassy in the US confirmed that it received an email from Rodriguez on January 10. Mexico's foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard, without referring to the content of this email, downplayed the chance of any government intercession in favour of El Chapo. "He is serving a sentence there, he has a sentence. So, frankly, I don't see any possibilities for him, but I'm going to review it with the prosecutor's office," Ebrard told reporters.

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Earlier in January, Chapo's son Ovidio Guzman was arrested by authorities following six months of intelligence work to track him down. The US put out a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Guzman's capture and accused him of being a key player in the Sinaloa cartel. His arrest triggered widespread violence in Mexico. The government had said that 29 people — 10 soldiers and 19 criminal suspects — were killed in the operation to arrest him.

(With inputs from agencies)

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