Wanted Drug Cartel Leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Captured In Mexico
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman eluded capture for more than a decade and his persona became larger than life, many compared him to another very well known rebel, Robin Hood.
But while the English outlaw fought for the poor for a noble cause, Guzman was a feared cartel leader in Mexico, sending addictive drugs over the border to the US making millions of dollars and taking thousands of lives.
Legend was that El Chapo Guzman inspired such loyalty — whether from support or fear — that he was always one step ahead of being caught and lived on the edge, without letting his precarious situation bother him.
His luck run out on Saturday when he was arrested in a hotel in the Pacific Mexican city of Mazatlan, at his home state of Sinaloa, just 140 miles from the city of Culiacan, his drug cartel home base.
El Chapo Guzman had been on the run ever since he escaped prison in 2001 and with his fortune making him a Forbes “Most Powerful” staple, authorities thought he was out of reach as he could be hiding literally anywhere in the world.
The joint operation that ended in the capture of one of the most wanted drug cartel leaders was conducted by the Mexican Marines and US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The Mexican government confirmed the apprehension of the fugitive had taken place via Twitter and acknowledged the different agencies involved in the capture of El Chapo Guzaman:
Reconozco la labor de las instituciones de seguridad del Estado mexicano, para lograr la aprehensión de Joaquín Guzmán Loera en Mazatlán.
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) February 22, 2014
La coordinación de la @SEGOB_mx, @SEDENAmx, @SEMAR_mx, @PGR_mx, @PoliciaFedMx y el CISEN, fue determinante. Felicidades a todos.
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) February 22, 2014
Until Saturday, the Mexican and American governments had been unsuccessful in disrupting El Chapo Guzman’s multi-billion dollar money laundering operations and his Sinaloa cartel was considered the number one supplier of illegal drugs in the US.
El Chapo Guzman was seen as a skilled entrepreneur and thus was able to avoid capture for many years.
Mexico’s Attorney General, Jesus Murillo Karam, said Guzman was captured without a single shot fired in a hotel in the port of Mazatlan, Forbes reports.
Billionaire Drug Lord El Chapo Guzman Captured In Mexico http://t.co/kVqiaN5lsv @CherylShuman @BeverlyHillsCC #weed pic.twitter.com/0jCyTbP30y
— Aimee Shuman (@AimeeShuman) February 23, 2014
The Attorney General reported that the operation that allowed authorities to take El Chapo Guzman lasted around a month and was the result of intelligence that revealed that the drug kingpin was living in seven different houses which were interconnected by secret tunnels and sewers, which he crawled in to escape authorities.
United States Attorney General Eric Holder, for his part, called El Chapo Guzman’s arrest “a landmark achievement” and added that the drug dealer’s alleged criminal activities contributed to the death and destruction of millions of lives across the globe through drug addiction, violence, and corruption.
[Image Via Twitter]
