The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

The Student Newspaper of Saint Peter's Prep

The Petroc

El Chapo Captured

El+Chapo+Captured

For the past decade both the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Mexican officials have been on the tail of one of the most notorious drug lords in the history of organized crime. One might think it impossible for one man to evade capture for so long, especially with such scrupulous efforts by not one, but two countries. However, catching the most powerful drug cartel leader is easier said than done. With billions at his disposal, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was able to wriggle and squirm out of the many sticky situations cast upon him, including but not limited to his escape from a Mexican prison in 2001 via laundry cart, and his fleeing from United States Marines through a secret system of underground tunnels beneath a series of safe houses in the small Mexican town of Culiacan.

Regardless of his plentiful resources, El Chapo could not run forever. Authorities were finally able to pinpoint his location in the town of Mazatlan, located on the Mexican Pacific coast. Using the cell signals given off by the drug lord’s phone, the man deemed “Public Enemy Number One” by the city of Chicago was finally taken into custody on Saturday, February 22, 2014. A combination of intelligent planning and flawless execution by a team of Mexican marines led to the swift arresting of the drug lord. With the element of surprise on their side, the Mexican team entered an averaged sized apartment in the early hours of the morning to find the man, wanted by both sides of the U.S./ Mexican border for close to twelve years, asleep next to his wife. With no time to slip through the fingers of his hunters yet again, El Chapo had little choice but to accept his apprehension.

With the prominent criminal no longer on the lam thus begins a long and trivial court case. But here is where another problem stalls the conviction of the international drug supplier: which court is he to be tried in? Mexico or the United States? An argument can be made for both sides. The man was single handedly responsible for the distribution of marijuana, methamphetamine, and cocaine with many of the major cities in United States. However, Mexican officials captured him on Mexican soil. Having said this, both countries ruthlessly searched for the man and contributed equally to his capture, piecing together a puzzle that desperately needed the work of both sides of the border.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has not been in a jail cell for nearly thirteen years. In this amount of time he was able to sustain and grow his drug trade throughout Mexico and the United States. Thousands and thousands of people all over North America became dangerously hooked on the cocaine and meth that was produced and distributed by El Chapo.  The man expanded his business based off the destruction of other people’s lives, and this is why he will end up behind bars in either country he is tried in.