The US government celebrated the verdict in the trial against the Mexican Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, which was found guilty of all the charges, and warned drug traffickers that aspire to replace the capo in Mexico that “will not escape” and ” they will be prosecuted. ”
The heads of the US Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reacted in a statement to the decision reached today by the jury in the federal court of Brooklyn New York.
“This case demonstrated the extraordinary scope of the US government, our tenacity and commitment to persecuting drug lords such as Guzman,” who is considered the head of the Mexican cartel in Sinaloa, said US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.
“This case, and most importantly, this sentence, sends an irrefutable message to the drug lords who are still in Mexico and those who aspire to be the next ‘Chapo’ Guzman, who will ultimately be hunted down and prosecuted,” he added.
In similar terms, the secretary of National Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, said that the verdict makes it clear to the “transnational criminals” that “they can not hide, they are not out of reach” of the US authorities and “they will suffer the consequences of their criminal behavior. “
Nielsen recalled that the investigative unit of one of the agencies that depend on it, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), contributed to the jury’s decision against El Chapo by “collecting substantive evidence” against him and pave the way for his extradition to the United States in January 2017.
As for the DEA, its acting administrator Uttam Dhillon highlighted the role of its agents in the operation that brought “before justice the most dangerous and prolific drug trafficker in the world.”
“Those who bring drugs and violence to the United States that destroy lives and communities will not be tolerated, nor will they evade our reach.The success of this case is a proof of the solidity of our relationship with our Mexican counterparts,” Dhillon said in the statement.
For his part, the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, celebrated that “justice has been done” in the case of El Chapo Guzman.
“The realm of the crime and violence of JoaquÃn Guzman Loera has come to an end,” said Wray, who underlined the role of the US “alliance” with the Mexican Government.
The verdict implies that El Chapo, 61, is now facing a probable sentence of life imprisonment once Judge Brian Cogan issues a sentence, for which he has summoned the court for June 25.
