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U.S. Court Receives New ‘El Chapo’ Letter Accusing Mexico and Seeking Return

Questions about who actually wrote the filing could shape how officials handle the requests.

Overview

  • The letter, dated May 7 and received Wednesday by the federal court in Brooklyn, was addressed to Judge Brian Cogan and sent from the ADX Florence supermax prison.
  • In the handwritten note attributed to Joaquín Guzmán, he claims he did not harm people in Mexico and says Mexican authorities carried out killings later blamed on him.
  • He again asks to be sent back to Mexico under an extradition-related argument, even though the judge has rejected similar requests as lacking legal basis.
  • Reporters later cited penitentiary sources who questioned whether Guzmán actually authored the recent letters, and U.S. authorities have not confirmed their authenticity.
  • News outlets say this is one of several letters filed in recent weeks, with some counting it as the seventh, as the convicted Sinaloa cartel leader serves a life sentence imposed in 2019.