Mexico aims to extradite ‘El Chapo’ as soon as possible

Mexico wants to send notorious drug cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán to face trial in the United States “as soon as possible,” President Enrique Peña Nieto said on Friday.

“The directive that the attorney general’s office has been given is to work and speed up this work to make this extradition of this highly dangerous criminal happen as soon as possible,” Peña Nieto said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, according to CNN and other news outlets. 

{mosads}Peña Nieto also appeared to express remorse for Guzmán’s escape from a maximum security prison last summer. Guzmán had previously escaped from prison years earlier.

El Chapo’s release was “without a doubt a difficult and tense moment,” he told the annual gathering of world leaders and intellectuals. “But the important thing is that we were able to re-apprehend him.”

Guzmán was recaptured by Mexican authorities earlier this month in a dramatic raid in the seaside city of Los Mochis.

Mexican officials have said that his arrest was aided by Guzmán’s desire to make a movie about his life and an October meeting with Hollywood star Sean Penn and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo.

Guzmán’s lawyers have vowed to fight the extradition, however, which could point to a years-long court battle before he ever sets foot on U.S. soil. The Mexican justice system has a number of legal avenues that El Chapo can take to drag out the proceedings, and he has pledged to explore all of them.