Mexican officials have released the newest mugshot of Sinaloa drug lord & cartel leader El Chapo who was recaptured after escaping a maximum level Mexican prison last year via underground tunnel.
Mexican authorities are believed to have been tipped off after El Chapo arranged meetings with Hollywood producers about a new biopic depicting his lengthy life of crime & power.
CNN– Drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been captured, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Friday via Twitter.
“Mission Accomplished,” the President wrote. “We have him.”
Mexican Federal Police spokesman Jose Ramon Salinas confirmed Guzman’s capture to CNN.
Nicknamed “Shorty” for his height, Guzman has escaped twice from Mexican custody. The first was from a maximum-security prison in 2001 when he reportedly hid in a laundry cart.
The latest instance came when he broke out of another maximum-security prison in Almoloya de Juarez through a mile-long underground tunnel in July.
He then traveled north about 140 kilometers (85 miles) to San Juan del Rio, where two small planes were awaiting his arrival and took off from an airstrip, Attorney General Arely Gomez has said.
Since then, he’d been rumored to be many places, including as far away as Argentina. In October, authorities revealed they were hot on Guzman’s trail, only to have him slip out of sight, though not before apparently breaking his leg.
Gomez said last fall that 34 people have been detained in connection with Guzman’s breakout last year, including the drug lord’s brother-in-law.
The Sinaloa cartel chief’s high profile and ability to elude authorities have been held up as an example of Mexico’s reputed ineptitude in dealing with powerful drug cartels.
The breakout also spurred major criticism about the Mexican government’s ability to safeguard such a notorious criminal, with some saying he should have been held in the United States.
Read more about the capture of Mexico’s biggest drug lord on CNN
Via ABC News– The mayor of a city south of Mexico’s capital was shot to death on Saturday, less than a day after taking office.
Gunmen opened fire on Mayor Gisela Mota at her house in the city of Temixco, said the government of Morelos state, where Temixco is located. Two presumed assailants were killed and three others detained following a pursuit, said Morelos security commissioner Jesus Alberto Capella. He said the suspects fired on federal police and soldiers from a vehicle.
On his Twitter account, Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez attributed Mota’s killing to organized crime, without citing a particular drug cartel or gang. Cartels seeking to control communities and towns have often targeted local officials and mayors in Mexico.
Mota’s leftist Democratic Revolution Party released a statement describing her as “a strong and brave woman who on taking office as mayor, declared that her fight against crime would be frontal and direct.”
Temixco is a city of about 100,000 people neighboring Cuernavaca, a resort and industrial city which has been suffering kidnappings and extortion linked to organized crime groups. Though Cuernavaca is the capital of Morelos, Temixco is the seat of several state institutions including the Public Security Commission, which coordinates state and local police forces. Morelos also neighbors drug cartel-plagued Guerrero state.
Mota, who had been a federal congresswoman, was sworn into office on New Year’s Day. She was killed the following day.
Morelos Gov. Ramirez vowed there “would be no impunity” in her killing and promised that state officials would not cede to what he described as a “challenge from criminals.”
Federal and state forces are deployed in Cuernavaca and municipalities near the Guerrero state border in what is called operation “Delta.”
Capella did not provide more details about the attack on Mota, but said that when the suspects were detained, authorities found a 9-millimeter gun, an Uzi, ski masks and an SUV with Mexico State license plates.
Morelos Attorney General Javier Perez Duron said the detained suspects have been tied to other crimes, but declined to provide more details.
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