Mexico rules out the immediate extradition to the US of Ovidio Guzmán

The Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, has ruled out an immediate extradition to the United States of Ovidio Guzmán, son of the drug trafficker ‘El Chapo’, arrested this Thursday in Sinaloa.

Ebrard has affirmed that there is a request for extradition by the US government against the son of the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, but has insisted that the US authorities have not communicated with the Mexican counterpart. “We could not proceed to extradite him today, tomorrow, the day after in these circumstances. We have to comply with the formalities,” he declared, according to the newspaper ‘El Universal’.

“Later we will see if the United States reaches substance in the extradition,” said the head of Mexican Diplomacy, assuring that Washington “has to substantiate, argue, and justify the extradition” for the process to begin, according to an interview with the medium ‘Informer’.

When asked if the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán will be an “exchange” prior to the meeting with the US president, Joe Biden, next week, Ebrard has denied it and has detailed that “this operation was kept in extreme secrecy” without that there would be “intermediation or political consultation in the cabinet.”

The Mexican authorities have assured that Guzmán’s arrest has been a “forceful blow” to the leadership of the Pacific cartel.

The Army has mobilized its troops in Sinaloa due to the disturbances that the city is registering. The Sinaloa government has reported the death of two police officers, while 18 people are injured.

The Mexican authorities have transferred Guzmán by helicopter to the maximum security prison in Altiplano, in the state of Mexico, where he entered on Thursday afternoon after landing on board an official helicopter. He has spent the first night in the prison where his father, “El Chapo”, was under strict security measures, since he has been surrounded by heavily armed security agents, according to what the Mexican media have reported.

Thus, dozens of agents have remained outside the prison, forming a surveillance fence, accompanied by armored vehicles.

With information from La Gaceta de la Iberosfera