El Chapo Guzmán’s alleged lawyer, José Luis González Meza, said that besides looking to bring his client back to Mexico, he is also looking to return the money seized by the U.S. government to Mexico.
The former leader of the Sinaloa cartel was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years on July 17 by a federal judge in New York, who also found him guilty of 10 charges, including drug trafficking and other crimes.
According to his lawyer, during a phone call, El Chapo told his mother and sisters that he knows the U.S. wants to confiscate USD $14,000 million from his fortune but that he wants the money to be given to Indigenous communities in Mexico.
El Chapo allegedly said that “the money doesn’t belong to the United States but to the Mexican government and that he totally agrees with returning the money to Mexico, and is asking president López Obrador to give that money to Indigenous communities,” said González Meza during a press conference.
The declaration was made after the Senate created a binational commission to negotiate the repatriation of goods seized from drug traffickers or from any other criminals who are judged in the U.S.
In regards to the possible repatriation of the Mexican drug lord, his legal attorney, Juan Pablo Badillo Soto, said that the U.S. trial is not valid because the drug lord wasn’t presented before the authorities who requested his presence in San Diego but instead, he was sent to New York, where his presence was never requested.
According to Soto, the extradition documents show that “if the accused is not presented before the authorities who requested their presence during the first 60 days, they will be immediately released.”
The lawyers criticized the inhumane conditions Guzmán Loera is being subjected to and said they will reveal the names of the high ranking officials from the Peña Nieto administration, who are interfering with the process to repatriate the money and El Chapo.
González Meza said that “in the Foreign Ministry, Dr. Alejandro Celorio Alcántara, the legal director; César García Mondragón, and Rafael Peralta Zayas. The three of them have refused to talk to us and rejected the motions we’ve filed without any bases.”
Today, during his daily news conference, president López Obrador said he approved the idea that the wealth of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, “El Chapo,” is distributed among the poorest communities in the country.
The president also announced that his government has launched a process so that all the assets seized from Mexican criminals by U.S. authorities are returned to Mexico.
Source: El Universal
