Only Cat Owners Will Understand!!
Mr.
Guzmán faces a slew of drug trafficking and organized crime charges in
the United States, which had offered $5 million for information leading
to his arrest in the hopes of dealing a crippling blow to an
organization that is the country’s top provider of illicit drugs.
Mr.
Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel is considered the largest and most powerful
trafficking organization in the world, with a reach as far as Europe and
Asia, and has been a main combatant in a spasm of violence that has
left tens of thousands dead in Mexico.
“Big
strike,” said a Twitter posting by former President Felipe Calderón,
who had made cracking down on drug gangs a hallmark of his tenure.
But
it was the forces under the control of President Enrique Peña Nieto,
whose resolve to fight drug traffickers was questioned, that produced
the biggest arrest in a generation. While Mr. Peña Nieto has not allowed
American law enforcement officials the kind of broad access in Mexico
that Mr. Calderón had permitted, the two countries have continued to
work together on big cases.
Eduardo
Medina Mora, the Mexican ambassador to the United States, said that the
two governments had been working together on the case for months. But
whether Mr. Guzmán would be extradited to the United States has not been
worked out.
“I think it’s important that first he faces the charges against him in Mexico,” the ambassador said.
It
remains to be seen if the arrest will interrupt Mexico’s thriving drug
trade. The capture or killing of a drug lord sometimes unleashes more
violence as internal feuds break out and rivals attack. And given the
efficiency of the Sinaloa Cartel, it is possible the group will manage a
smooth transition to a new leader and continue with business as usual.
“The
takedown of Chapo Guzmán is a thorn in the side of the Sinaloa Cartel,
but not a dagger in its heart,” said George Grayson, a professor at the
College of William and Mary who studies the drug war.
Over
time, as he eluded capture, his legend and the mystery of his
whereabouts grew. He had been rumored to be in Guatemala, Argentina,
Bolivia, and even, as Mr. Calderón once speculated, in the United
States, where his wife had given birth to twins.
But in the end, he was captured not long after doing what so many cartel bosses do: having a party in Mazatlán.
Few
details were available on Saturday, but a picture of Mr. Guzmán, who
appeared kneeling and handcuffed with a few cuts on his face and
shoulders, circulated among law enforcement officials.
In
the afternoon, he was paraded before the media at a news conference at
Mexico City’s international airport, in dark jeans, a dress shirt and
noticeably blacker hair than in previous photographs. Masked Mexican
marines gripped him as he was walked to a helicopter that would take him
to prison.