Mexican President Says Drug Kingpin “El Chapo” Guzman Caught By Authorities
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said Friday that authorities had
recaptured Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the leader of the Sinaloa drug
cartel whose two escapes from maximum security prisons had baffled the
world.
“Mission accomplished: We have him,” Peña Nieto wrote on Twitter.
Guzmán
was arrested by elite Marine infantry units, a source in the office of
the Mexican Attorney General told BuzzFeed News. Earlier today, the
Mexican Navy issued a statement detailing a pre-dawn raid in Los Mochis,
a small city in Sinaloa state. Five people, none of them law
enforcement officers, were killed during the raid, which the Navys said
was based on a tip. Six people were arrested, but they were not
identified.
The most wanted drug lord in the world, Guzmán became a
source of embarrassment for Peña Nieto’s government after he escaped
from prison in July 2014 by riding a motorcycle through a mile-long
tunnel that his cronies had been dug under his cell. Previously, he
escaped from another maximum security facility in 2001, supposedly
abroad a cart full of dirty laundry.
Together with his wealth and
ruthlessness, Guzmán’s escapes made him a symbol of the violence and
corruption that have seized Mexico since the beginning of the so-called
drug war several decades ago. Based in the western Mexican state of
Sinaloa, Guzmán’s organization remains one of the most powerful and
feared drug-trafficking syndicates in the world. Its gunmen are believed
to have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of rival
traffickers, law-enforcement officers, and innocent civilians.
Yet
many in Mexico see Guzmán as a kind of folk hero. Known by many by his
nickname, which means something like “Shorty,” his largesse with some
local populations has lent him the aura of a Robin Hood or a Pancho
Villa — a kindly bandit from a poor peasant family who, unlike the
corrupt politicians in the centers of power, has the best interest of
the people at heart.
In the past, the United States had sought to
extradite Guzmán, who faces drug-related charges in several American
jurisdictions. The Mexican authorities, however, insisted that the
kingpin serve his full sentence in a Mexican prison first.
After his latest escape, however, the Mexican authorities signaled that they would allow the kingpin’s extradition.
President
Peña Nieto, in particular, saw keeping the kingpin in Mexico as a
matter of national pride, telling reporters that it would be
“unforgivable” if he ever escaped again.
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