The Mexican government is willing to extradite captured drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman to the United States, unnamed Mexican officials told multiple media outlets Saturday.
That is a sharp reversal from the government's position after his last capture in 2014.
Guzmans escape in July from a maximum-security prison was a point of friction between Mexico and the U.S., which had requested his extradition.
The extradition process could take months, and Guzman's lawyers are expected to fight it.
Guzman was returned to the Altiplano prison after being recaptured Friday in the city of Los Mochis, which is in Guzmans home state of Sinaloa.
Hours later, he was shown to reporters, dressed in a blue shirt and track pants, being transferred from an armored van to a helicopter that was to take him and at least one accomplice back to prison.
Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez said Guzman's recapture was the product of a huge surveillance operation that involved a film crew that had been working on a biography of the drug trafficker.
The Mexican marines, acting on a tip, raided a home in Los Mochis just before dawn on Friday.
A gunbattle ensued that left five suspects dead and one marine injured. During the fighting, El Chapo and one of his top lieutenants escaped through the sewers, but marines captured them later.
Six others were arrested during the operation.
Mexican federal authorities had been focusing their manhunt since October on a mountainous region of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico. Tracking teams reported it appeared that Guzman had been injured while fleeing marines in rugged terrain near the borders of Sinaloa and Durango states.
Guzman's July 11 prison escape his second in the past 14 years was accomplished through a 1.5-kilometer underground tunnel, dug in secret from his cell to a nearby village. It was a major embarrassment to the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which had been praised for its aggressive push against Mexico's top drug traffickers.
Guzman was first captured in 1993, but he escaped in 2001 with the help of prison guards. After more than a decade on the loose, he was recaptured early in 2014, with the help of intelligence that U.S. authorities provided to Mexico.
Mexico has issued arrest warrants for more than 20 former officials, guards and police officers for their alleged participation in Guzman's escape last year. Ten civilians are also in detention.
Guzman escaped through a rectangular hole found underneath a shower of his prison cell, moving through a fully ventilated tunnel equipped with electric lighting. Authorities also found a motorcycle modified to run on rails; the vehicle apparently was used to haul tools and dirt away from the subterranean site during construction.