- The world is once again looking for Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman after he used a mile-long tunnel to escape from maximum-security prison.
- The Sinaloa cartel boss is said to have escaped through a tunnel stretching from his prison-cell shower to an abandoned house in a cornfield one mile (1.5km) away!
- It’s reported that the tunnel was fitted with lighting, PVC piping (for ventilation), a rail-mounted motorbike and was 1.7m high, allowing Guzman to simply walk to freedom.
- This is the second time Guzman has escaped from prison. In 2001, Guzman reputedly used a laundry cart to escape, after which he fled to the central regions of Mexico until he was captured in 2014.
- Novelist Don Winslow says he’s sceptical that El Chapo “escaped”, and that it’s more likely he simply “checked out of the hotel” and paid the bill with bribery, intimidation and blackmail.
- Guzman’s wealth and connections suggest that he could have gone almost anywhere, especially since flight in small airplanes is not heavily regulated in Mexico and its surrounding regions.
- It’s reported that Mexicans believe Guzman will never be found, given the efforts he made to escape.
- This is a humiliating outcome for the Mexican government given that the USA pushed for Guzman to be extradited to face trial in New York.
- The mockery is magnified given that the machinery needed to build the tunnel would have shaken the ground and nobody seemed to notice the removal of an estimated 3,250 tons of dirt.
- Guzman was widely considered to be the world’s richest and most powerful drug trafficker before his capture in 2014.
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