Drug lord Guzman faces extradition to US after lapses lead to capture

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by soldiers during a presentation at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City, Mexico, Jan 8, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

The failure to extradite him before his elaborate jailbreak strained relations with the United States.

Juan Pablo Badillo, a lawyer representing Guzman, said on Saturday that the drug kingpin could not be extradited.

"In strict accordance with the constitution, he cannot nor should not be extradited to any foreign country," Badillo told local television channel Milenio. "Why? Because he is Mexican, and Mexico has wise laws and a fair constitution, and there is absolute confidence in the prisons authority."

Milenio cited Badillo as saying that Guzman's team had filed six injunctions against extradition to the United States.

Later, Mexico's Attorney General's office said that none of the injunctions presented would get in the way of starting extradition proceedings.

Sending Guzman to the United States would help allay fears the drug lord could use his massive fortune to bribe prison officials and escape from a Mexican maximum security jail yet again.

In the Sinaloan state capital of Culiacan, where many view Guzman as a latter-day Robin Hood, some residents fear his arrest and eventual extradition could open the door for other drug gangsters to extort locals.

"We hope that other bad people don't come. Here there is no extortion, El Chapo let people work," said Marta Lopez, 44, a street seller hawking candies and peanuts.

Though the US Drug Enforcement Administration and US Marshals helped in the recapture, American officials have taken no credit and instead lavished praise on Mexico.

"Criminals like Guzman-Loera are responsible for bringing hundreds of tons of illicit drugs into the United States every year, and are responsible for tremendous amounts of violence and death in our own country and across the world," the US State Department said on Friday.

US government sources said the White House and Department of Justice have impressed on government agencies that policy is let Mexico take all the credit for Guzman's capture, and not claim any for themselves.

Sources said US agencies were at the very least involved in providing intelligence support during the operation. On Saturday, neither DEA nor US Justice Department officials would comment on whether or not the US was expecting Mexico to extradite Guzman.