‘El Chapo’ Guzman Says He Wants To Go Back To Mexico In ‘Polite’ Letter To Judge

Mexican drug drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán has asked to be extradited back to his home country in a new letter.

CBS News reported that Guzmán claimed that the life sentence he is currently serving in the U.S. is “cruel.” Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges after escaping from Mexican prisons multiple times. He has repeatedly complained about the conditions of his imprisonment.

In the letter, Guzmán, who is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Colorado, refers to the “fairness” of his appeal and that he deserves “equal” treatment under the law.

“This is a polite letter (about) the hardcore evidence that wasn’t proven for my case,” Guzmán wrote in the letter, dated April 23.

This is not the first time El Chapo has complained about his conditions in the Colorado supermax. However, this time is different. The former Sinaloa cartel boss has spent years sending letters and filings about his confinement, but this latest note appears in rough, handwritten English, an unusual detail for a prisoner long described in court records as a Spanish speaker with limited English.

Guzmán has been serving a life sentence plus 30 years since July 2019, after a Brooklyn jury convicted him on sweeping drug trafficking, firearms, and money laundering charges. The Justice Department said he was sentenced by Judge Brian Cogan as a principal leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and ordered to forfeit $12.6 billion. He is being held at ADX Florence in Colorado, the Bureau of Prisons’ administrative maximum facility, which the agency says is designed for inmates who pose the greatest risks to staff, other prisoners and the public.

In another letter from three days earlier, Guzmán complained about a lack of response from authorities and said that the verdict in his trial “wasn’t fair.”

Guzmán was once one of the top leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel. Since his incarceration, there have been ongoing disputes over cartel leadership by various factions within the organization.

Mexican authorities have continued a crackdown against the cartel. Last month, authorities have captured three men with strong ties to Guzmán’s brother.

The Mexican Ministry of Defense said that the operation was done in cooperation with U.S. intelligence, which provided critical information. In total, 10 members of the Sinaloa cartel were captured in the raid. That faction of the Sinaloa cartel is led by Aureliano Guzmán-Loera, known as “El Guano.”

The U.S. government currently has a $5 million bounty on Guzmán-Loera, referring to him as a high-ranking member of the cartel. In 2019, he was indicted on four counts related to an international conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. A second indictment in 2020, added additional drug trafficking charges.