El Chapo must appeal his extradition in a month’s time, according to Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but it is unclear if his lawyers have a handle on things.
Two men claiming to be El Chapo’s lawyers preemptively contradicted the Foreign Minister’s statements in their own press conference Friday. Attorneys José Luis González and Juan Pablo Badillo claimed to have filed an appeal to a federal judge in Mexico City, on behalf of their client.
José Refugio Rodriguez, who claims he is El Chapo’s true lawyer, quickly refuted the two lawyers’ statements Saturday and said that he will file an appeal in two to three weeks time. Despite the clear divide in El Chapo’s legal team, Rodriguez insisted to The Associated Press that, “We have a strategy with Joaquin and we are planning it.”
Rodriguez insists González and Badillo’s Friday appeal, “hurts Joaquin Guzman because it hinders our defense.” He called their action “a desire for notoriety.”
Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu told reporters in a press conference that Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s lawyers must file an appeal on behalf of their client before July 1 or he is definitely going north of the border. Massieu said, “to our knowledge, Mr. Guzman Loera has not submitted any appeal against these two accords of extradition.”
El Chapo is facing two federal cases against him in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas and in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Nevertheless, it remains so unclear as to where El Chapo will ultimately be tried that the Eastern District of New York has also been widely mentioned as an option.
The fate of the incarcerated Sinaloa Cartel boss has been the subject of much speculation ever since he was recaptured by authorities in January after a brazen July 2015 jail break. It is not clear if El Chapo will face a lengthy trial filled with incarcerated former rivals and employees as witnesses or if he is willing to make a deal with U.S. authorities.
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