Jorge Ricardo and Claudia Guerrero/Agencia Reforma
Friday, January 06, 2023 | 10:34
Mexico City.- The Foreign Ministry estimated that the United States authorities have a period of 42 days to present evidence that leads to the extradition of Ovidio Guzmán López, accused of drug trafficking in the Court of the District of Columbia.
Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Foreign Relations, reiterated that the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel will not be immediately sent to the North American country, since he must first face a process with various legal procedures in the country.
“What happens when the person is arrested? He is made available to the judge and the extradition law establishes a series of deadlines for the elements, evidence, evidence against that person to be presented,” explained in the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“We estimate that this will happen between four and six weeks from now by the United States, which submitted the extradition request (of Ovidio Guzmán López in September 2019).”
Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, added that the charges against “Ratón” in the US court will be exposed, as well as other crimes for which he is responsible in Mexico.
“In the case of the extradition procedure, the crimes charged by the US authorities will be being aired, which mainly deal with conspiracy to introduce drugs into that country.”
“In the case of our country, there are elements to take it to court, for crimes against health and crimes related to firearms, initially,” he said.
There are also accusations of organized crime for his role in the faction of the Sinaloa Cartel with Los Chapitos and/or Los Menores, as the association of the sons of “Chapo” Guzmán is known.
“There are investigations, naturally also related to organized crime, against the detainee and other people, of course, the above is independent of the events that occurred during his arrest,” the Secretary responded about the legal situation of Ovidio Guzmán.
Adán Augusto López, Secretary of the Interior, said that the son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, “El Chapo”, faces crimes for which he was arrested yesterday in Culiacán, Sinaloa, after clashes with the Army that unleashed chaos in various parts of the entity.
The balance up to this morning was recorded at 29 deaths, among them, 10 soldiers, as well as 35 people injured between agents and aggressors, in addition to 21 detainees with various large-caliber weapons.
“He was arrested in flagrante delicto for various crimes, possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the Army, attempted homicide and others, but he made himself available to the Attorney General of the Republic, who executed the arrest warrant in terms of extradition and who is integrating the folders for the crimes of the federal jurisdiction”, indicated the Secretary.
“Additionally, as the Secretary (Rosa Icela Rodríguez) mentioned, we are aware of other investigation folders, of which we cannot share more information, both from the federal forum, from the common law, we have to keep the secret of the process.”
From the National Palace, the President reiterated that the extradition process is not a fast track and there must be evidence to support any request from the foreign Government, since his Administration will not give in as easily as he accused, it was done in other six-year terms in the past.
“It is a process, the request is made by the government, in this case by the United States, but the evidence must be presented, the elements and the judges in Mexico decide.”
“It is not just the request, but to prove the type of crime, for which he is being asked to be extradited and it is a process. There is not, as Marcelo mentioned, if it was like that, fast track, it is not: let’s see , there we send it to you, they did that in the time of Zedillo, in other times, here there is an authentic rule of law that must be respected,” he warned.
López Obrador assured that the arrest of the “Mouse” was without the intervention of the United States and a decision to proceed with prior agreement in his Security Cabinet.
He ruled out that it was a gift to President Joe Biden, who will land next Sunday at the Felipe Ángeles Airport for the North American Leaders Summit, in which the Prime Minister of Canada will also participate.
