Mexican gov't hopes to extradite El Chapo to U.S. in early 2017

The Mexican government is hoping to extradite drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the U.S. in January or February 2017, said Director of the National Security Commission (CNS) Renato Sales on Friday.

In a television interview with Televisa, Heredia explained that, in the next few days, a federal judge will begin analyzing whether the extradition of the Sinaloa cartel leader is legal or not, after Guzman's appeal against extradition was upheld in May.

Sales estimated that the revision of the case would take around three months and that, if the judge rules the extradition can take place, the federal government would act quickly.

"We hope that (he will be extradited) in January or February of next year," he told Televisa's news show, Despierta.

According to Sales, the federal government "is certain" that the judicial decision would come in favor of sending Guzman to the U.S., where courts in California and Texas have demanded to try him for crimes related to drug trafficking.

However, Guzman's lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez Nunez, told Televisa that the extradition would not happen soon and that Guzman had been treated badly in prison in violation of his human rights.

Mexican army and naval operatives arrested the drug trafficker on January 8 in the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, six months after he made a dramatic escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison in the central State of Mexico. Endit