Photo 
 
 MEXICO CITY — A Mexican judge has ruled that the country’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, can be extradited to the United States, where he would face federal charges of drug trafficking and far slimmer chances of escaping prison, as he has done twice in his home country. 
 
 The ruling essentially creates the basis for the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Mexico to grant the final approval for the extradition of Mr. Guzmán, known as El Chapo, or Shorty, within the next 30 days. 
 
 “The ball is now in the Foreign Ministry’s court, and they have a month to execute the process or not,” said a spokesman for the judiciary in Mexico who could not be identified because of government policy. “They have been notified and received the file.” 
 
 Mr. Guzmán’s lawyers were notified of the judge’s decision on Friday night, and Mr. Guzmán was told on Sunday, during his transfer to another prison in Ciudad Juárez, near the border with Texas. 
 
 “There is nothing, legally speaking that could impede the extradition, from the judicial system point of view,” the judiciary spokesman said. 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 The saga of Mr. Guzmán, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, has spanned the better part of a decade and a half in Mexico. After a 2001 escape, he was captured in 2014 during a raid by the Mexican Marines. A year later, he escaped again, this time through a mile-long tunnel that ran to the floor of his cell’s shower. 
 
 The decision to extradite Mr. Guzmán was made shortly after his recapture in January of this year. Having lost him twice, the government decided that rather than risk a third embarrassment, it would hand him over to the United States, where he faces charges in numerous jurisdictions. Convictions would keep him imprisoned for a long time. 
 
 An American law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the case, said the Mexican authorities had decided to relocate Mr. Guzmán to a prison in Juárez on their own. The official added that an extradition could still be months away. 
 
 No decision has been made on which federal court in the United States would try him, but the courts in Brooklyn and Chicago are considered strong options. 

 (CNN) A Mexican federal judge has ruled that reputed drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman can be extradited to the United States, according to a Monday news release from the Mexican Federal Court. 
 
 The decision was in response to a U.S. Department of Justice extradition request. The ruling does not immediately pave the way for the Sinaloa Cartel boss' extradition. 
 
 Guzman was transferred last week from the maximum-security Altiplano lockup in central Mexico to a prison in Ciudad Juarez, a senior Mexican law enforcement source told CNN. 
 
 "Due to the proximity (to the U.S.), it makes it easier to extradite him," the official said. 
 
 The exact reason for the move was unclear, but it comes one month after a Mexican lawyer leading his legal defense team said his client wanted to be extradited to the United States "as soon as possible" because conditions at Altiplano were unbearable and making him seriously ill. 
 
 Read More 

 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican judge has ruled that drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman can be extradited to face charges in the United States, the country’s federal court authority said on Monday, days after he was moved to a prison near the U.S. border. 
 
 Recaptured drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by soldiers at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City, Mexico January 8, 2016. REUTERS/Henry Romero/File Photo 
 
 On Saturday, Guzman was transferred to a prison in Ciudad Juarez on Mexico’s northern border and a senior Mexican security official said the kingpin’s extradition was in motion and would happen by mid-year. 
 
 Guzman, boss of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, was for years the world’s most wanted drug trafficker until his capture by Mexican Marines in February 2014. He then embarrassed the government by escaping from prison through a tunnel last July. 
 
 The government recaptured him in January and President Enrique Pena Nieto said soon afterwards he had taken steps to ensure Guzman was extradited as soon as possible. 
 
 He faces charges ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder in cities that include Chicago, Miami and New York. 
 
 Juan Pablo Badillo, one of Guzman’s lawyers, said his client’s legal situation was still being processed and that to extradite him now would be a violation of his human rights. 
 
 Badillo listed nine appeals pending against Guzman’s extradition. However, government officials have said in private the decision to extradite the drug lord is essentially a political call dependent on the president. 
 
 A government source said on Monday nothing was likely to happen to Guzman for weeks. 
 
 Mexico’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday that it had received notification of the judge’s decision, adding that once it received the case file, it would have 20 business days to analyze and decide on the matter. The judge’s identity was not disclosed. 
 
 In a radio interview, Eduardo Guerrero, head of Mexico’s federal prisons service, denied Guzman’s transfer was a preamble to extradition, noting that prisoners awaiting extradition go to the Hermosillo jail in northwest Mexico. 
 
 It was not clear why he was taken to Ciudad Juarez, the lowest rated federal prison in a 2015 National Human Rights Commission report on factors including illicit activities and violent incidents. 
 
 Guzman’s cartel is present in the city, fighting a war for control that made it the world’s most murderous town in 2010. Crime has since dropped. 
 
 At 9.00 pm on Friday authorities entered Guzman’s cell at the Altiplano jail in Central Mexico, told him to put on a shirt and pack up his things, placing them in transparent bags, Guerrero said. 
 
 At 1.30 am on Saturday, Guzman was flown by helicopter to Mexico City airport, where he boarded a police plane and flew to Ciudad Juarez. 
 
 Guzman asked once where he was being taken, but was not told until he arrived in the Ciudad Juarez lockup, Guerrero added.
– Looks like Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman will be facing trial in the US, CNN reports. A Mexican judge has ruled that Guzman, who was recaptured in January after a stunning 2015 prison breakout, can be extradited to the States. If that happens, officials say he'll go to Brooklyn on federal charges—but his extradition isn't a slam dunk. As the New York Times explains, the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Mexico first has to approve the move over the next 30 days. "The ball is now in the Foreign Ministry’s court and they have a month to execute the process or not," says a spokesman for the Mexican judiciary. "They have been notified and received the file." "There is nothing, legally speaking that could impede the extradition, from the judicial system point of view," adds the spokesman. But one of Guzman's attorneys calls the move a human rights violation and says there are nine appeals pending against it, Reuters reports. Government officials say it's mostly a political decision and will depend on President Enrique Peña Nieto. Meanwhile, Guzman was transferred over the weekend to a prison in Ciudad Juárez, a city just south of El Paso along the Texas border. Why isn't clear, but the move might ease his eventual extradition; it also comes a month after Guzman's top lawyer complained that conditions at Altiplano lockup in central Mexico were making Guzman ill.