Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán has filed letters asking U.S. courts to recognize his request to return to Mexico, calling the life sentence he is serving in the United States "cruel." He contends key evidence was unproven, says his appeal has been pending for three years, and cites protections under the First to Fifth Amendments. Guzmán is held at the Supermax facility in Florence, Colorado, and has repeatedly complained about isolation and poor conditions. Recent operations in Mexico, backed by U.S. intelligence, captured associates of his brother, while one brother remains wanted with a $5 million U.S. bounty.
El Chapo Asks U.S. Courts To Return Him To Mexico, Calls Life Term "Cruel"
El Chapo wrote letters, pleading for U.S. court authorities to transfer him back to his country of birth, court filings showed. / Credit: Eastern District Court of New York
Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán has asked U.S. court officials to arrange his return to Mexico, calling the life sentence he is serving in the United States "cruel," according to court filings made public Monday.
Guzmán — extradited to the United States in 2017 after escaping Mexican prisons twice — is serving a life sentence at the federal Supermax penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, following convictions on charges that included drug trafficking and money laundering.
Letters Filed in Court
Agence France-Presse said it reviewed three letters that the Sinaloa cartel co-founder submitted, all filed on Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. CBS News also obtained a copy of one letter, which contains grammatical errors and informal language.
In an April 23 letter Guzmán described his filing as “a polite letter (about) the hardcore evidence that wasn’t proven for my case,” criticizing the record used against him.
Addressing the court, he asked authorities to “recognize my rights to be request back (sic) to my country,” though he did not explicitly state whether he sought to serve the remainder of his sentence in Mexico.
In a separate letter dated April 20, Guzmán said his requests for the documents underlying his sentence had gone unanswered. He argued those documents would not justify what he called “my cruel punishment,” said the verdict was not fair, and claimed he has been waiting three years for an appeal. He also referenced protections “from the First to the Fifth Amendment.”
Prison Conditions And Prior Complaints
Throughout his incarceration Guzmán has repeatedly complained in prior letters about isolation, poor cell conditions and limited family visits. In 2023 he appealed to Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, alleging “psychological torment” while imprisoned.
Where He Is Held And Recent Developments
Guzmán is held at the high-security Supermax complex in Florence, Colorado — a remote facility that has housed other high-profile inmates including Ted Kaczynski, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Zacarias Moussaoui and Terry Nichols. The prison is often called the "Alcatraz of the Rockies."
Last month, Mexican security forces, with U.S. intelligence support, captured three close associates of one of Guzmán’s brothers in a targeted operation. Aureliano Guzmán Loera, known as "El Guano," remains wanted with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head.
Context
The filings renew public attention on Guzmán’s long-running legal and international saga: a multi-decade criminal career, dramatic prison escapes in Mexico, extradition to the U.S., and ongoing disputes over the fairness of his trial and the conditions of his confinement.
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