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| Mexican Navy marines stand next to their vehicle after they participated in the recapture of Mexico's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in the city of Los Mochis, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 08, 2016. The world’s most-wanted drug lord was captured for a third time, as Mexican marines staged heavily-armed raids that caught drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison. |
MEXICO CITY
(AP) -- The world's most-wanted drug lord was recaptured in a
daring raid by Mexican marines Friday, six months after he fled through a
tunnel from a maximum security prison in a made-for-Hollywood escape
that deeply embarrassed the government and strained ties with the United
States.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto
announced the capture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman using his Twitter
account: "Mission accomplished: we have him."
Few
had thought Guzman would be taken alive, and few now believe Mexico
will want to try to hold him a third time in Mexican prisons. He
escaped from maximum-security facilities in 2001 and on July 11, 2015,
the second breakout especially humiliating for the Pena Nieto
administration, which only held him for less than 18 months.
The
capture had top Mexican officials at a Foreign Ministry event gleefully
embracing and breaking into a spontaneous rendition of the national
anthem after Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong delivered the news.
No
sooner than Guzman was apprehended, calls started for his immediate
extradition to the U.S., including from a Republican presidential
candidate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
"Given
that 'El Chapo' has already escaped from Mexican prison twice, this
third opportunity to bring him to justice cannot be squandered," Rubio
said.
The United States filed requests for
extradition for Guzman on June 25, before he escaped from prison. In
September, a judge issued a second provisional arrest warrant on U.S.
charges of organized crime, money laundering drug trafficking, homicide
and others. But Guzman's lawyers already filed appeals and received
injunctions that could substantially delay the process.
Mexico
said after the 2014 capture of the cartel boss that he would be tried
in his home country first, with officials promising they would hang on
to him. After his escape in July, the talk on Friday about keeping and
trying Guzman almost as a matter of national pride wasn't so overt.
"It would be better for the Americans to take him away," said Mexican security analysis Raul Benitez.
Pena
Nieto said he personally issued the order to recapture Guzman and
heaped praise on Mexican agencies for their coordinated effort. "Careful
and intensive intelligence work was carried out for months" leading up
to the arrest, he said.
Pena Nieto gave a
brief live message Friday afternoon that focused heavily on touting the
competency of his administration, which has suffered a series of
embarrassments and scandals in the first half of his presidency.
"The
arrest of today is very important for the government of Mexico. It
shows that the public can have confidence in its institutions," Pena
Nieto said. "Mexicans can count on a government decided and determined
to build a better country."
Guzman, a
legendary figure in Mexico who went from a farmer's son to the world's
top drug lord, was apprehended after a shootout between gunmen and
Mexican marines at a home in an upscale neighborhood in Los Mochis, a
seaside city in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa.
Authorities
first located Guzman several days ago, based on reports that he was in
Los Mochis, said a Mexican law enforcement official who was not
authorized to be quoted by name said.
The
Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines raided a home after
receiving a tip about armed men there. They were fired on from inside
the structure, it said. Five suspects were killed and six others
arrested. The marine's injuries were not life threatening.
"You
could hear intense gunfire and a helicopter; it was fierce," said a
neighbor, adding that the battle raged for three hours, starting at 4
a.m. She refused to be quoted by name in fear for her own safety.
Guzman
may have been at the house and fled while his gunmen and bodyguards
provided covering fire from the house, said a second federal law
enforcement official, who also agreed to discuss the operation on
condition of anonymity. Guzman was later captured at the hotel Doux, a
low-rise modern building on the outskirts of town.
Some
reports said he tried to escape through storm drains. In 2014, Guzman
evaded capture by fleeing through a network of interconnected tunnels in
the drainage system under Culiacan, the Sinaloa state capital.
Marines
seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a
rocket-propelled grenade launcher at the home in Los Mochis, the navy's
statement added.
Photos of the arms seized
showed that two of the rifles were .50-caliber sniper guns, capable of
penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher was
found loaded, with an extra round nearby. An assault rifle had a 40-mm
grenade launcher and at least one grenade.
"The
arrest is a significant achievement in our shared fight against
transnational organized crime, violence, and drug trafficking," the Drug
Enforcement Administration said in a statement.
The
U.S. Justice Department commended the Mexicans for their work as well.
"I salute the Mexican law enforcement and military personnel who have
worked tirelessly in recent months to bring Guzman to justice," Attorney
General Loretta Lynch said.
After his first
capture in Guatemala in June 1993, Guzman was sentenced to 20 years in
prison. He reportedly made his 2001 escape from the maximum security
prison in a laundry cart, though some have discounted that version.
His
second escape last July was even more audacious. He slipped down a hole
in his shower stall in plain view of guards into a mile-long tunnel dug
from a property outside the prison. The tunnel had ventilation, lights
and a motorbike on rails, illustrating the extent to which corruption
was involved in covering up the elaborate operation. Noise of the final
breakthrough from the tunnel was obvious inside the prison, according a
video of Guzman in his cell just before he escaped.
Mexico
launched a huge manhunt and a couple of months later tracked him to the
mountains of his home state, arresting a pilot who allegedly flew
Guzman to the region hours after his escape. Guzman was said to have
narrowly escaped an earlier capture and injured a leg and his face while
fleeing marines in the rugged terrain.
