Drug Lord Guzman’s Family, Lawyers on Hunger Strike

The relatives and lawyers of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" ("Shorty") Guzman have organized a hunger strike at the entrance to the Altiplano maximum security prison where he is being held, demanding an improvement of his conditions, local media report.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – According to one of Guzman’s attorneys, cited by El Sol de Mexico on Friday, El Chapo is "desperate" as he cannot sleep properly because he is awakened at least once every night to get a "proof of life."

The hunger strike started on Friday. Earlier, Guzman's wife, Emma Coronel, claimed that El Chapo was subject to various kinds of maltreatment at Altiplano.

The drug lord was jailed at the federal facility, located in the State of Mexico, in February 2014. El Chapo Guzman escaped from Altiplano on July 11, 2015, using an underground tunnel. Mexican authorities searched for Guzman for months.

The United States filed an extradition request for Guzman on June 25, 2015. Mexico said it would not extradite Guzman until he had served his prison sentence in Mexico.

Guzman’s Sinaloa drug cartel, named after his home state, smuggles cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the United States. The cartel is also involved in the production and distribution of Mexican marijuana, heroin and other drugs in North America and Europe.