The official said that in general the Cefereso No. 9 prison on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, is not as impregnable as the maximum-security Altiplano facility near Mexico City where he had been held. The official wasn't authorized to discuss Guzman's case publicly and agreed to do so only if not quoted by name. The official said, however, that Guzman is being held in a maximum-security wing where the same protocols are being enforced as in Altiplano, including 24-hour monitoring via a camera in his cell.
But Michael Vigil, the former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, wondered at the logic of sending Guzman to a lesser lockup in territory firmly controlled by his Sinaloa cartel underlings. "It just doesn't make any sense," Vigil said. "He has that part of his empire, he has the infrastructure there and he has people who would assist him in terms of engineering him another escape." Officials have not said why they chose Cefereso No. 9 over the 19 other options in the federal penitentiary system for Guzman's surprise, pre-dawn transfer in a high-security operation Saturday.
Mexican federal police guard a road leading to the Cefereso No. 9 federal prison in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Saturday, May 7, 2016. Convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who twice pulled off jailbreaks and is fighting to avoid extradition to the United States, was abruptly transferred to the prison in northern Mexico near the Texas border. The Interior Department said the move was due to work being done to reinforce security at the maximum-security Altiplano lockup near Mexico City where he was being kept.
Some Mexican media have speculated it was a prelude to imminent extradition to the U.S., where he faces drug charges in seven jurisdictions. But authorities denied that. The security official said Guzman is still in the middle of the extradition process. The Foreign Relations Department has the final say, and Guzman's lawyers still have opportunities to appeal. A lawyer for Guzman confirmed Saturday that his defense continues to fight the drug lord being sent to the U.S., and officials have said it could take up to a year to reach a final ruling.
Multiple analysts told The Associated Press that there was no sign of a link between the prison switch and extradition. "In the past, when they're going to extradite people, they just put them on a plane and they just fly them into the United States," Vigil said. "They don't pre-position people. ... He was not pre-positioned in Juarez to get kicked across the border. Altiplano is considered the country's highest-security prison, and many had thought it to be unescapable. That belief was shattered in July 2015 when Guzman fled the facility through a sophisticated, mile-long tunnel that accomplices dug to the shower in his cell, complete with a motorcycle modified to run on rails laid down in the passage.
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