Joaquín Guzmán Loera, often known as “El Chapo Guzman,” once led the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico’s most powerful organized criminal gang. His ability to coerce public authorities, target enemy strongholds, and devise novel methods to bring his narcotics to market has earned him a reputation in the underground.
Before his apprehension in February 2014, Guzmán was the most sought-after guy in the Western Hemisphere. He escaped from jail again on July 11, 2015, slithering through a tunnel, sparking a large search throughout Mexico. On January 8, 2016, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced on Twitter that the authorities had re-arrested the Sinaloa Cartel chief. A little more than a year later, on January 19, 2017, Mexican officials confirmed his extradition in a statement published less than 24 hours before Donald Trump was ushered in as the 45th US President.
El Chapo’s reign came to an end once and for all on February 12, 2019, when a US jury found him guilty of all ten counts in the federal indictment against him, including leading an ongoing criminal enterprise, which carries a life sentence in federal prison without the possibility of parole.
Early Life of El Chapo Guzman
Guzmán was born in a tiny rural village in Badiraguato, Sinaloa State, and spent his youth transporting oranges to market. With his uncle’s assistance, he went into contraband and eventually managed massive shipments of marijuana and cocaine in Sinaloa State and then to the United States. He may have little academic education, but he has a Ph.D. in narcotics trafficking. Guzmán is regarded as a trade pioneer, having rented an aviation hangar at Mexico City’s main airport for years and spearheading the construction of tunnels under the US-Mexico border.
El Chapo’s career has also been characterized by infighting and violence. In the 1990s, he broke away from the main group of Guadalajara-based traffickers and engaged in a brutal battle with the Tijuana Cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix Organization, which controlled the lucrative Tijuana trafficking corridor. Following an assassination attempt in 1993, Guzmán escaped to Guatemala, where he was captured and deported back to Mexico. From prison, he continued to practice his craft, with his brother, Arturo Guzmán Loera, alias “El Pollo,” handling the firm. His Sinaloa cronies, Arturo and Hector Beltran Leyva, would routinely bring him bags of cash so he could grease the wheels of power within the jail and maintain his sumptuous lifestyle, which included specially prepared meals and conjugal visits from his wife, girlfriends, and prostitutes. Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, alias “El Azul,” Guzmán’s buddy, ally, and married relative, ensured that his product reached the United States without intervention from his competitors.
- El Chapo’s birth year is unclear, with some official authorities citing 1954 and others citing 1957.
- Group: Sinaloa Cartel
- Criminal activities include international drug trafficking and money laundering.
- Status: in custody.
- Area of operation: Mexico
Guzmán escaped jail in 2001, just as authorities were preparing for his extradition to the United States. He evaded detection for more than a decade by establishing a sophisticated security system and purportedly residing in remote, rural parts of Sinaloa and Durango.
While El Chapo was on the run, many apparent near encounters were subsequently shown to be manufactured. Mexican police stated in February 2012 that they had come the closest to apprehending Guzmán yet. However, subsequent investigations revealed that the operation never took place and that the fake story was likely intended to bolster Calderon’s popularity ahead of the 2012 elections. In February 2013, officials in Guatemala – the same nation responsible for his 1990s prison sentence — claimed Guzmán’s likely death in a gunfight, which was also shown to be false. Many artists have praised his skill to avoid arrest and undermine the government.
On February 22, 2014, Mexican Marines detained Guzmán at a hotel in Mazatlan, a popular tourist destination. At the time of his capture, he was the world’s most wanted criminal, with a $5 million reward on his head.
Despite demands from US authorities to extradite him almost immediately after his detention in February, poor US-Mexico relations have cast doubt on whether the cartel head would ever face punishment in the United States.
On July 11, 2015, Mexican officials confirmed that El Chapo had escaped from his maximum-security jail once again. This time, no laundry cart was involved, as was the case with his epic escape in 2001. According to accounts, he crawled through a 1.5-kilometer-wide tunnel that went straight to his jail shower cell. On January 8, 2016, Mexico’s president tweeted, “Mission accomplished: we have him.” “I’d like to inform the Mexican people that Joaquin Guzmán Loera has been arrested.” On January 19, 2017, El Chapo was extradited to the US, only hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration. The action sparked controversy about President Peña Nieto’s intended message to the future US president.
After a three-month federal drug trafficking trial in the United States, El Chapo was found guilty in February 2019 on all ten counts in the federal indictment against him, which included drug trafficking, money laundering, and directing an ongoing criminal organization. He faces a mandatory minimum life term in federal US jail, most likely in the so-called “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” or ADX Florence, the country’s sole supermax prison.
Criminal Activities
Prior to his capture in 2014, Guzmán was largely regarded as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker and one of the most sought criminals. With Chapo at the head, the Sinaloa Cartel dominated the worldwide cocaine market while also trafficking heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana.
Guzmán’s enormous income from drug trafficking—he was featured on Forbes’ list of billionaires in 2009 (he was subsequently removed from the list in 2013)—necessitated a sophisticated money laundering system to legalize the illegal earnings.
Geography
Guzmán was supposedly based in rural Sinaloa and Durango until being apprehended in 2014. However, while the drug lord was on the run, reports circulated that he was hiding or operating in other countries, including Honduras, Argentina, Guatemala, Bolivia, and the United States. Guzmán was later apprehended in the beach resort city of Mazatlan, Sinaloa.
Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel is said to have operations in almost every major city in the United States and Latin America. The cartel is thought to operate in 17 states throughout Mexico.
Allies and enemies
During the mid-2000s, Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel fought a brutal turf war with its competitor, the Juarez Cartel, over control of lucrative drug trafficking routes near the US border. The Sinaloa Cartel emerged triumphant, consolidating its status as Mexico’s leading drug trafficking group.
After splitting from the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) in 2008, the cartel formed partnerships with erstwhile enemies the Gulf Cartel and the Familia Michoacana. However, both the Gulf Cartel and the Familia Michoacan are shadows of their former selves, with many of their leaders slain or imprisoned.
Guzmán formed the hemisphere’s greatest drug cartel with the cooperation of several prisoners, notably Esparragoza and the Beltran Leyva brothers. Guzmán has also spent a great amount of time and effort gaining support among Mexicans, particularly in rural regions where contraband and drug trafficking are common.
Guzmán’s family is deeply involved in trafficking, and his battles with his rivals cost him his brother, Arturo, who was killed in prison in 2004 while Guzmán carried on a dispute with the Zetas; his son, Edgar Guzmán Lopez, who was killed in May 2008 in Culiacan, Sinaloa, amidst Joquin’s dispute with his former allies, the Beltran Leyva Organization; and his longtime girlfriend from his time in jail, Zulema Hernandez, who was found in the trunk of a car in 2008, strangled.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN) have long clashed, accusing one other of being loyal to Guzmán. The truth is that both may have groups aligned with the trafficker, as do portions of the military and police in Mexico and other adjacent nations.
Guzmán’s second escape from a maximum-security jail in July 2015 triggered a huge search for the Sinaloa Cartel leader. There is considerable suspicion of high-level official complicity, and the government has under great pressure to apprehend Guzmán soon, which they accomplished on January 8, 2016. After Chapo was extradited to the United States in early 2017, there was talk that he might testify in his own trial; however, he never did. El Chapo will spend the remainder of his natural life in jail.
However, this did not signal the end of the Sinaloa Cartel and is unlikely to have a substantial influence on Mexico’s criminal landscape, since the organization continues to be led by El Mayo and Guzmán’s sons. El Chapo’s sons are essentially under the wing of El Mayo, who purportedly strives to restore order among the country’s criminal gangs as Mexico’s only real surviving drug lord.