Joaquín Guzmán Loera is distressed. Or at least that is what he has told Judge Brian Cogan in the 23 letters he sent between April 10 and July 13. “El Chapo,” as the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel is nicknamed, has been serving a life sentence in the United States since 2019 for multiple drug trafficking–related offenses. In each letter he has insisted on the “unfair treatment” he receives in prison and expressed a desire to be extradited. Despite his repeated requests, all were denied by the magistrate. However, the correspondence has raised questions about whether it is really the drug lord who is exploring a new literary side or whether someone else is impersonating him. Documentation and evidence obtained by EL PAÍS reveal that the author of at least two of the letters is a U.S. citizen named Aubrey Gideon, who posed as the Mexican capo in his pleas for mercy from the courts.

Each of the letters, ostensibly written by El Chapo, emphasized the “unfair treatment” he receives in prison, his wish to serve his sentence in Mexico or, in some instances, claimed that President Claudia Sheinbaum has a “safe place” for his incarceration south of the border. In one, Chapo argues that “the Mexican government was responsible for all the violent crimes; They blamed me for things I didn’t do, all because of who I am […] I was known in my country not for bad things. The good things I have done in Mexico are wanting family to eat together and have a great life.” Despite his repeated handwritten requests — composed in halting English with some grammatical errors even as they display an understanding of legal jargon — Cogan replied to a string of five letters with the following message: “Some of these letters are unintelligible and none have legal merit. Therefore, these petitions have been denied.”

Nevertheless, with each letter, very obvious details cast doubt on the sender’s authenticity. Each envelope, recorded in his court file, lists the sender’s address as ADX Florence, the maximum-security federal prison where he has been held since 2019 in Colorado, United States. Yet the mail containers bear postmarks from Jackson, Mississippi — nearly 1,250 miles from the location where Guzmán Loera is incarcerated.

The letters began being signed “Joaquín Guzmán,” then “Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán,” until the most recent listed the sender as “Joaquín El Chapo Loera Guzmán,” with his surnames inverted, even though the capo’s legal family names are Guzmán Loera, in that order. The name Aubrey Gideon, 46, a resident of Greenwood, Mississippi — based on available records — first appears in a letter sent from Jackson on June 10. In that missive, in which he impersonates the former Sinaloa Cartel leader, he complains about his “health situation” in jail and criticizes confinement policies that deny him the “privilege” of family visits. “The letters being received in the courts are my legal petition of Aubrey Gideon in Greenwood, MS 38930 [Mississippi], about his rights and the connection with my lawyer in the fight for my freedom in the United States,” reads a handwritten paragraph in English in which Gideon identifies himself.

Gideon also posted a video on June 27 to one of his three Instagram accounts showing a hand — presumed to be his — dropping two envelopes into a blue mailbox on a public street, the type used for outgoing mail. One envelope shown in the video lists the sender as “Joaquin El Chapo Loera Guzmán”. It includes his inmate number, 89914053, and ADX Florence’s prison address. Comparing the handwriting and ink color with the letters recorded in the court file, it matches one written on June 12, whose receipt and entry in the docket were recorded six days later by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The other envelope seen in the same video lists the sender as Larry Hoover, alias “King Larry,” a former Chicago gang leader serving a 200-year sentence since the 1970s for the murder of a rival gang member.

The Instagram account, which had only three posts, was deleted in recent days, but it included an image that revealed another Gideon account on the same social network. On that second profile, the man posted more selfies and videos of himself set to songs by various U.S. rappers. What stands out among the content on his main page are photos of three letters sent on June 16, 2025, and on October 7 and 9 of last year, addressed to Kathy Hochul, governor of New York (though Gideon writes “governor of Brooklyn”), in which he asks that Chapo’s rights be “respected.”

“This letter seeks justice for Mr. Guzmán for his confinement in a maximum-security prison, where his family is not allowed to visit him under United States laws. This letter seeks to denounce the grave injustice committed against Mr. Guzmán by the violation of his rights and also requests the governor of Mexico his release and return to his country, under the law of illegal action against the United States,” reads a continuous fragment of the letter, written in uppercase English with almost no punctuation. The image shows the letter was apparently notarized by Greenwood County circuit clerk Johnny Gary Jr., whose seal and signature appear in the photo.

This newspaper attempted to contact Gideon through his various social networks, both on Instagram and Facebook, but had received no response by the time of publication.

The differences between the letters attributable to Gideon and one in Guzmán Loera’s own hand are notable. For one, Guzmán writes in Spanish — also with spelling errors — but his script is cursive, characterized by slanted, continuous strokes, as shown in a note addressed to Cogan dated July 15, 2025. The capo does not use envelopes or postal service, unlike the other letters, which display block print handwriting — a style in which characters are separate and not connected. Additionally, among Chapo’s longstanding complaints is that he has not been given English classes.

“They’re not him,” Mariel Colón, a member of Chapo’s legal team, told The Los Angeles Times. “We have an investigation into who is sending them.” The lawyer emphasized that neither she nor the other attorneys representing the capo were involved in sending the messages. “It’s somebody crazy,” she said.

The last time Chapo’s inner circle publicly raised concerns about his conditions was in February. On that date, Colón told the Mexican newspaper Reforma that her client had lost a great deal of weight and suffered episodes of tachycardia in recent months. “He is under extremely harsh conditions of confinement; in my opinion they are inhumane and violate the U.S. Constitution. They are cruel,” she said.

Another factor that rules out a direct communication or relationship between Gideon and Guzmán is the strict rules governing ADX Florence for convicted terrorists, known as SAM, which almost completely restrict inmates’ communications with the outside. They may have the right to a handful of family visits, make a few calls and write letters, but always under close supervision by authorities. Nevertheless, according to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons report, El Chapo managed to circumvent the security placed around him. In February 2025, U.S. authorities discovered that the impenetrable walls of the facility — also known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies — had not deterred the capo, famed for his Hollywood-style escapes from two Mexican prisons. Guzmán had managed to send messages, but to his children, through his lawyers.

Despite all the denials he has received from Cogan, Chapo’s ghostwriter has not given up. In a new letter filed in his court folder on July 17, also bearing a Jackson, Mississippi postmark, the writer again insists on his “extradition” and appeals for the “reopening of his case.” Like the other missives, it presents unintelligible English handwriting, shifting between third and first person, with incoherences and in block print. “Today, being extradited to the United States as El Chapo Guzmán, I exercise my constitutional right to freedom of religion and expression, as well as protection against cruel and unusual punishments before the courts and the laws of penitentiary administration.” Signature: “Joaquin El Chapo Loera Guzman.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition