Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán Loera, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel and currently incarcerated in a maximum security prison in the United States, sent a handwritten letter to federal judge Brian Cogan. The letter, dated July 15, 2025 and registered in the judicial system on August 5, 2025, states his dissatisfaction with the lack of access to his legal defense.
El Chapo Guzmán claims that, despite the judge’s authorization for his lawyer José Israel Encinosa to communicate with him, the authorities have not allowed phone calls, visits or the delivery of correspondence.
The full letter from El Chapo Guzmán
Buzzy
July 15, 2025
Honorable Judge Brian M. Cogan.
I am writing to you most respectfully and attentively as follows:
I was told by attorney José Israel Encinosa that three weeks ago you authorized the government to allow attorney Encinosa to visit me and talk to me by telephone and write me a letter.
But as of yesterday, they have not authorized my phone call.
The lawyer wrote to me… but to this day I have not received the two letters that Encinosa wrote to me.
The lawyer has been asking the government for about 10 months to be able to visit me and talk on the phone.
I thought that now that you ordered that they authorize the lawyer Encinosa to visit me and talk on the phone, but to this day the lawyer has not been authorized.
Sorry to bother you again, about a month and a half ago I wrote to you asking you to please authorize Attorney Encinosa’s request to order the government to authorize Attorney Encinosa to visit me.
I thank you for ordering you to authorize the lawyer to visit me and talk to me on the phone and again, I ask you to order the government to authorize the lawyer to visit me and talk to me on the phone, since the lawyer is vital to me.
Thank you in advance.
Joaquín Guzmán L.
Implications for your defense
The content of the letter reveals a persistent conflict between court orders and their enforcement by prison authorities.
For El Chapo Guzmán, communication with his lawyer is vital to his legal strategy and his right to an adequate defense.
Sorry to bother you again
El Chapo Guzmán
The allegation that neither the calls nor the letters have been authorized, despite a court order, could lead to new legal claims about his treatment in prison and respect for his procedural rights.
For more information, visit QuéOnnda.com.
