Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, one of the world's most sought-after drug lords, has been captured, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Friday.
"Mission accomplished!" the president said via his Twitter account.
Guzman — a multibillionaire thanks to his Sinaloa Cartel, which traffics in cocaine and marijuana — escaped from jail in July for the second time, dramatically tunneling his way out of Mexico's top maximum-security prison.
Until his arrest in February 2014, he had been on the lam for 13 years.
He was captured again Friday in a firefight between his bodyguards and Mexican Marine special forces in the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis, on the Pacific coast and not far from his home, government officials said. Five of his associates were killed, six injured and several captured, the navy said. One marine was wounded.
The special forces were responding to a citizen’s tip regarding armed people in a home when they came under fire, the navy said.
Guzman’s escape last year was a major embarrassment for the Peña Nieto government, exposing deep levels of corruption and an inability to mete out justice.
The U.S. government lamented Mexico’s refusal to extradite Guzman to the U.S., where he has been indicted in California and elsewhere because of his cartel’s expanding operations. It is likely that Washington will now revive extradition requests.
In Washington, the Drug Enforcement Administration praised the capture.
The DEA "is extremely pleased at the capture of Chapo Guzman," the agency said via Twitter. "We congratulate the [Mexican] Government and salute the bravery involved in his capture."
Since his escape last year, Mexican officials have searched far and wide for Guzman, including in other countries such as Guatemala, where he is known to operate.
His escape added to the great folklore surrounding the legendary kingpin, who managed to pay for the digging of a tunnel from the shower in his cell to a house nearly a mile away, a tunnel equipped with lighting, ventilation and a motorcycle.
Poster Comment:
Just shoot the cockroach before he can escape again.
