El Chapo: Mexican judge throws out drug lord’s appeals against extradition

Mr Guzman could be tried in Chicago, Brooklyn or Manhattan

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is escorted into a helicopter at Mexico City's airport on January 8, 2016 following his recapture during an intense military operation in Los Mochis, in Sinaloa State. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty)

Mexico is now one-step closer to extraditing drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to the United States, the country’s attorney general announced on Wednesday.

A federal judge has denied Mr Guzman’s appeal but his lawyer Andres Granados vowed to immediately appeal the ruling. It will be the slippery kingpin’s last chance to avoid an American jail cell.

Mexico’s government is hoping to move El Chapo to the US by February. His extradition was approved by The Foreign Ministry in May but Mr Guzman’s legal team has fought to push back the date.

"We are not defeated," Mr Granados told the AFP, suggesting that the government is violating his client’s rights by speeding up the extradition. He could be tried in Chicago, Brooklyn or Manhattan.

Mr Guzman, who leads the infamous Sinaloa cartel, was re-captured six months after he broke free from a maximum-security prison. He’s currently facing extradition bids in California and Texas on murder, drug distribution, and money laundering charges