Mexican Government Vows To Go After El Chapo’s Cartel Assets

The Mexican government was dealt a low blow earlier this year when El Chapo Guzman, the world’s most infamous drug lord escaped from one of the country’s most secure prisons. A veteran drug dealer with more than 20 years in the trade, El Chapo certainly had more than a few tricks up his sleeve, making it extremely hard for authorities to nab him. Born in the rural La Tuna community in Mexico in 1954, the drug lord nicknamed, ‘Shorty,’ or ‘El Chapo’ in Spanish, as a result of his small statue was introduced to the drug trade while still a boy, and was said to have had an abusive father who regularly beat him and his siblings.

However, he always tried to stand up to him to protect them, but this put Chapo on a collision course with his father, and was soon thrown out of the family home. With few viable employment opportunities in the area, El Chapo began growing marijuana to eek out a living just like others in his community, which he sold to make a bit of money. According to Biography, Guzman had gained significant experience in the trade by the 1970’s and soon began working with Héctor Luis Palma Salazar, a drug dealer still in his youth.

At the time, El Chapo was in charge of the drugs coming from Sinaloa, his home town. By his late 20’s El Chapo began overseeing logistics for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, who was said to be the founder of the Guadalajara cartel. Following the arrest of Felix in 1985 for killing a DEA agent, El Chapo Guzman became the new face of the cartel and drug trafficking in Mexico.

Inheriting some of the lucrative drug trafficking routes to America and connections from his boss, El Chapo soon launched his own cartel, dubbed the Sinaloa cartel in 1989. At the time, Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel were beginning to crumble, leaving a vacuum, which El Chapo and the Sinaloa cartel exploited. As a result, the cartel’s sphere of influence soon extended from the United States to South America.

Fast forward to recent times, and the Mexican government, in conjunction with the United States, is doing all it can to put him back in jail after his escape from prison about three months ago. Progress in achieving this objective has been made, with an El Chapo sighting about two weeks ago in the Mexican Golden Triangle, which is a rugged area covering the Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa states. In an attempt to run from the marines, he is said to have fallen off a cliff, breaking his leg. His henchmen have allegedly rushed to the bottom of the cliff to carry him away, according to CNN.

According to Telesur, the Mexican government is currently also going after property owned by his cartel. This news comes from a statement issued by the Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez.

“We will seize airplanes, clandestine landing strips, vehicles, buildings and weapons belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel and I believe this is the correct way to go about bringing them down.”

However, the news of his sighting and government attempts to destroy his organization has been discounted by many. And according to Anabel Hernandez, a veteran journalist on the subject of Mexican cartels who spoke to Telesur, the whole raid thing about El Chapo was most likely a circus by the government, saying that even when Guzman was in jail, what changed was simply the headquarters of the Sinaloa cartel.

[Image via Twitter]