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Mexican drugs kingpin who made Forbes list held in pre-dawn raid
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Mexico’s most wanted man, drug cartel kingpin Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, has been captured in a major victory for the government in a long, grisly war.
Guzman, known as “El Chapo” (Shorty) in Spanish, has long run Mexico’s infamous Sinaloa Cartel and over the past decade emerged as one of the world’s most powerful organized crime bosses, even making it onto Forbes’ list of billionaires.
He was caught on Saturday in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa in an early morning operation without a shot being fired, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said.
Guzman’s cartel has smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States, and fought vicious turf wars with other Mexican gangs.
He pioneered the use of sophisticated underground tunnels to smuggle drug shipments across the border and also became a major narcotics exporter to Europe and Asia in recent years.
Nearly 80,000 people have been killed in the past seven years with much of the violence in western and northern regions that have long been key smuggling routes.
Mass graves
Many of the victims were tortured and beheaded and their bodies dumped in a public place or in mass graves. The violence has ravaged border cities and even beach resorts such as Acapulco.
Guzman, 56, was captured in a pre-dawn raid on a seaside condominium in the northwestern tourist resort and fishing and shrimp-processing center of Mazatlan, around 220 kilometers from Guzman’s suspected base in Culiacan.
He was then flown to Mexico City. Wearing a cream shirt and dark jeans and with a black moustache, he was frog-marched in front of reporters on live TV, bound for prison.
It was the first public glimpse of the elusive kingpin since he escaped from prison in 2001.
The 1.68-meter Guzman looked briefly toward TV crews on the tarmac at the marines’ hangar at Mexico City’s airport.
Murillo Karam said security forces had nearly caught Guzman days earlier, but he gave them the slip.
“The doors of the house ... were reinforced with steel and so in the minutes it took us to open them, it allowed for an escape through tunnels,” he said.
They then tracked him down again and waited for the right moment to strike, Murillo Karam said, adding that some US agencies had helped in the capture. He gave no more details but a US Homeland Security source said Mexican forces worked jointly with agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the US Marshals Service.
Less corrupt
It was not clear whether Guzman would now face trial in Mexico or be extradited to the United States.
Alberto Islas, a security expert with Risk Evaluation, said President Pena Nieto ordered his Cabinet to capture Guzman immediately after taking office in December 2012, and handed the job to the marines, seen as less corrupt than other forces.
Citing people involved in the operation, he said 25 marines entered the condominium where Guzman was staying and evaded two security teams there to protect the drug lord.
The whole operation took just over seven minutes and neighbors only realized it had taken place when they heard the helicopter whisking Guzman away, Islas said.
“We’re worried this will mean war here,” local builder Arturo Ramos, said. “All of us who have businesses here are worried about his capture. No one will be able to protect us, not the federal government, no one.”
“There was stability under him,” he added. “There were no robberies, no kidnappings. Now there will be chaos.”
Guzman’s exploits have made him a legend in many impoverished communities of northern Mexico, where he has been immortalized in dozens of ballads and low-budget movies.
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