Joaquín Guzmán

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Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as 'Joaquín "el Chapo" Guzmán ("Shorty") (born 1954) is the head of an international drug trafficking organization referred to as either the "Alianza de Sangre" or the Sinaloa Cartel, named after the Mexican Pacific Coast state where it got its start. During the 1980s, Guzmán was associated with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (known as El Padrino), head of the dominant drug trafficking group in Mexico at that time. After Félix Gallardo's capture he left the organization and soon gained notoriety as director of his own criminal enterprise.

He is believed to offer $2,000,000 to lieutenants and sympathizers who keep him safe at each location he travels to. He also changes cell phones daily; witnesses say he changes phones after each conversation. Guzman follows the "Sinaloan" credo of not killing innocent people supposedly distinguishing him from Osiel Cardena's Gulf Cartel and his "Zetas". This has won him many supporters and sympathizers in Sinaloa. Jorge Sandoval Magaña is believed to be an accomplice of Guzmán in many of his attacks originating from Coquimatlan (Colima, Mexico.)

Update March 2007: A recent raid and seizure in Mexico City of $250 Million USD is believed to have been a bribe to the Mexican Government by Chapo Guzman. There has been some speculation that the $250 Million USD was a "thank you" by Chapo to the Mexican Government for the recent arrests, captures and extraditions of his rivals in the Gulf Cartel. It is widely known that Chapo Guzman supported the election of the new president (Calderon) while Cardenas, the leader of the rival Gulf Cartel, supported Obrador and his failed attempt to become Mexican President.

Contents 1 Mode of Operation 2 Controversies 2.1 Murder of Cardinal 2.2 Escape from Mexico 3 Recent Escapes 3.1 2004 3.2 2005 3.3 2006

[edit] Mode of Operation

Guzmán is well known for his use of sophisticated tunnels, like the one located in Douglas, Arizona, to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into the United States in the early 1990s. In 1993, a 7.3 ton shipment of his cocaine, concealed in cans of chili peppers, destined for the US was seized in Tecate, Baja California.

When he was arrested in 1991, the drug boss pulled $50,000 from a suitcase and dumped it on the desk of the Mexico City police chief.^{[citation needed]} He later walked out a free man. Another time, he provided a Jalisco police commander with $1 million and five Dodge Ram Charger SUVs to allow a pair of cargo planes to land without any interference.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Murder of Cardinal

In May 1993, members of the rival Arellano Félix Organization coordinated a failed attempt to assassinate Guzmán in Guadalajara, Jalisco, which resulted in the much publicized murder of the prominent Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo. Police believe the Arellano Félix organization thought Guzmán Loera was in the car, but the Cardinal was shot instead.UP URS

The public were outraged and the feds went after the drug barons like never before. Guzmán was jailed, but continued to run his smuggling network from a luxurious cell, where he kept a selection of wines and entertained prostitutes. Then, a few days before he was due to be extradited to the USA, he paid his way out of prison and hid in a laundry van as it drove through the gates. The warden and 30 guards were implicated in the escape - rumoured to have cost him $500,000. For his escape,he had procured the help of the "Mayo" Zambada, "Azul" Esparragoza,the Beltrans,Los Covarrubias from "Atolinga Zacatecas",and Los Huizar's from "Jalisco and Zacatecas."

[edit] Escape from Mexico

Also in 1993, an even more sophisticated tunnel that stretched from Tijuana, Baja California, to the Otay Mesa, California area was discovered. The following month, Guzmán Loera and Victor Ochoa were arrested in Mexico on homicide and drug charges. On January 19, 2001, after their escape from prison they quickly regained control of the Sinaloa cartel and el cartel de Juarez, which they still control today. Authorities say Guzmán's push to cut down competitors (The Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, and the Juárez/Tijuana cartel) on the U.S.-Mexico border is creating the chaos that led President Vicente Fox to deploy soldiers and federal police in June 2005 to the streets of Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros, all border cities adjacent to the U.S. state of Texas.

[edit] Recent Escapes

[edit] 2004

In November 2004, 200 paras swooped on his Sierra Madre stronghold in Blackhawk helicopters. His voice had been heard on a tapped phone line half an hour earlier, but the drug king got away. All the paras could do was blow up his Hummer and Dodge Ram pick-up truck.

[edit] 2005

In June 2005, they grabbed his brother, son, two nephews and a niece. They also seized nine houses and six vehicles. But once again they missed out on the main man.

[edit] 2006

Recently, he openly strolled into a restaurant in Nuevo Laredo with a fleet of bodyguards. After taking his seat, he told the 40 or so diners not to be alarmed and not to use their mobile phones. After eating, he dropped a handful of hundred-dollar bills on the table and walked to the door. He turned around and said, 'Order what you want, and I'll pay.'and went on his way.^{[citation needed]}

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently has a $5,000,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and prosecution.