The Mexican lawyer who leads Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's legal defense team said his client wants to be extradited to the United States "as soon as possible" because conditions at the maximum-security prison where he's being held in Mexico are unbearable and making him seriously ill.
In a phone interview, José Refugio Rodríguez Nuñes told CNN that the notorious drug kingpin would be willing to plead guilty on drug trafficking charges to U.S. authorities under three conditions:
1) He's held at a medium-security prison in the United States.
2) He's allowed to see family members and his attorney often enough.
3) He's not kept in isolation.
Rodríguez said Guzman asked him to expedite the process on Monday, which was the last time Mexican authorities allowed him to see his client in prison.
The lawyer claimed Guzman is acting out of desperation, noting his client seemed very concerned about his health and looked extremely tired. He had shadows under his eyes because he's unable to sleep enough at central Mexico's Altiplano prison, the lawyer said.
"Let's find a way to take me to the United States as soon as possible. Let's sign an agreement with U.S. authorities so that we can speed up the extradition [process]. I can't take this anymore," Rodríguez said his client told him.
Guzman is the focus of 10 legal cases in Mexico, mainly for drug trafficking, murder and charges related to his role as a cartel leader. But he's not just wanted there, as U.S. authorities -- in Arizona, California, Texas, Illinois, New York, Florida and New Hampshire -- also want him in custody.
Drug lord's wife: 'The treatment .. is inhumane'
Altiplano prison is the same place near Mexico City from which the drug lord escaped last July and to which he was returned after his January 8 recapture in the coastal city of Los Mochis in Sinaloa state.
"All I ask is that they let me sleep. I beg them to let me sleep!" Rodríguez said, quoting El Chapo. "I can't take this stress I'm under anymore. I need to be able to sleep. They're killing me little by little."
Emma Coronel Aispuro, Guzman's 26-year-old wife and the mother of his twin daughters, shared those concerns in a handwritten letter obtained by CNN.
Coronel says Guzmán's life is in danger because he has developed high blood pressure while in prison, a condition for which there's no family history and from which El Chapo didn't suffer before.
"He's only asking for treatment worthy of a human being. His family and I are very worried because his life is in danger," she said in the letter, which is dated February 15. "This has become a vendetta against Joaquín. The treatment he's getting is inhumane."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/ameri...b_homepage_deskrecommended_pool&iref=obinsite
In a phone interview, José Refugio Rodríguez Nuñes told CNN that the notorious drug kingpin would be willing to plead guilty on drug trafficking charges to U.S. authorities under three conditions:
1) He's held at a medium-security prison in the United States.
2) He's allowed to see family members and his attorney often enough.
3) He's not kept in isolation.
Rodríguez said Guzman asked him to expedite the process on Monday, which was the last time Mexican authorities allowed him to see his client in prison.
The lawyer claimed Guzman is acting out of desperation, noting his client seemed very concerned about his health and looked extremely tired. He had shadows under his eyes because he's unable to sleep enough at central Mexico's Altiplano prison, the lawyer said.
"Let's find a way to take me to the United States as soon as possible. Let's sign an agreement with U.S. authorities so that we can speed up the extradition [process]. I can't take this anymore," Rodríguez said his client told him.
Guzman is the focus of 10 legal cases in Mexico, mainly for drug trafficking, murder and charges related to his role as a cartel leader. But he's not just wanted there, as U.S. authorities -- in Arizona, California, Texas, Illinois, New York, Florida and New Hampshire -- also want him in custody.
Drug lord's wife: 'The treatment .. is inhumane'
Altiplano prison is the same place near Mexico City from which the drug lord escaped last July and to which he was returned after his January 8 recapture in the coastal city of Los Mochis in Sinaloa state.
"All I ask is that they let me sleep. I beg them to let me sleep!" Rodríguez said, quoting El Chapo. "I can't take this stress I'm under anymore. I need to be able to sleep. They're killing me little by little."
Emma Coronel Aispuro, Guzman's 26-year-old wife and the mother of his twin daughters, shared those concerns in a handwritten letter obtained by CNN.
Coronel says Guzmán's life is in danger because he has developed high blood pressure while in prison, a condition for which there's no family history and from which El Chapo didn't suffer before.
"He's only asking for treatment worthy of a human being. His family and I are very worried because his life is in danger," she said in the letter, which is dated February 15. "This has become a vendetta against Joaquín. The treatment he's getting is inhumane."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/ameri...b_homepage_deskrecommended_pool&iref=obinsite