Posted: Feb 22, 2014 8:15 AM PST Updated: Feb 22, 2014 8:27 AM PST
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press has learned that the head of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel was captured overnight by U.S. and Mexican authorities at a hotel in Mazatlan, Mexico.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official said Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was taken alive overnight in the beach resort town. The official was not authorized to discuss the arrest and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Guzman faces multiple federal drug trafficking indictments in the U.S. and is on the Drug Enforcement Administration's most-wanted list. His drug empire stretches throughout North America and reaches as far away as Europe and Australia. His cartel has been heavily involved in the bloody drug war that has torn through parts of Mexico for the last several years.
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Read more: APNewsBreak: Mexico's Sinaloa drug chief arrested
Yeah, but this isn't a street gang, where if the leader -- or even runner up -- disappears, the gang disintegrates. This is Sinoloa Cartel. I'd think that someone will step up.
Yeah, but this isn't a street gang, where if the leader -- or even runner up -- disappears, the gang disintegrates. This is Sinoloa Cartel. I'd think that someone will step up.
Hope you are right. However it seems unlikely that this won't create a disruption in the balance of power that will be challenged.
The whole reason there is a cartel war is the Mexican and US government took out the leaders. This led to a power vacuum with various fractions fighting for control. As long as the the US keeps buying drugs, there will never be a end.
Something else to consider. Chances of it being him are questionable as he has look-alikes that he pays millions to impersonate him. Seems unlikely they would be able to take him alive anyway. This all sounds too easy.
Check out the photos of inside the condo where he was taken into custody. For a billionaire, the guy was living out of a complete dump. Also hard to believe he had zero security with him.
Check out the photos of inside the condo where he was taken into custody. For a billionaire, the guy was living out of a complete dump. Also hard to believe he had zero security with him.
Maybe It is someone that looks like him! stranger things have happened, wait for DNA test or maybe he will be killed and his body will vanish LOL
We will never know the real truth. It is what they say it is. They tell us what they want us to hear. As long as the drug war doesn't escalate I really don't give a damn.
Hope you are right. However it seems unlikely that this won't create a disruption in the balance of power that will be challenged.
This is Stratfor a intelligence agency's take on it. I made bold the most disturbing parts
Like most of Mexico's major transnational criminal organizations, the Sinaloa Federation is led by a collection of crime bosses, each with their own network, operating under a common banner. In addition to Guzman, other notable top-tier leaders include Zambada and Juan Jose "El Azul" Esparragoza Moreno. These leaders guide the Sinaloa Federation's overall strategy and activity throughout Mexico, as well as its transnational operations. With Guzman now in custody, the remaining top bosses, along with several less-prominent leaders, will look to maintain the Sinaloa Federation's control over Guzman's network. This could spark a wave of violence throughout northwestern Mexico if internal shifts evolve into intra-cartel conflict.
A more likely source of violence -- one that could occur alongside an internal Sinaloa Federation feud -- would be a push by the Sinaloa Federation's rivals for control over drug trafficking operations in current Sinaloa Federation territories, including Baja California, Sonora, Durango, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa states. Should Guzman's arrest effectively create opportunities for rivals to pursue territorial gains at the expense of the Sinaloa Federation, Stratfor would expect to see an increase in inter-cartel violence on some scale, as well as a military response to contain or even preempt possible violence, in any area of the aforementioned states.
AP Report: Top Mexican officials have made increasing clear that they want Guzman to face all local charges, and interrogation by Mexican investigators looking to dismantle his cartel, before they consider extraditing him to the U.S.
Dismantling all the cartels would be marvy, if it were possible by a wave of the wand. But it seems to me that carving away at Guzman's cartel (separately, or out of synch) will only serve to dissolve neutrality, and create a new war zone . . . like doing open heart surgery with a gurkha knife.
Interesting.
Of course dismantling the cartels will never happen. As long as there is demand for a product and the satisfaction of that demand is made illegal, crime organizations will emerge to satisfy it.
Interesting.
Of course dismantling the cartels will never happen. As long as there is demand for a product and the satisfaction of that demand is made illegal, crime organizations will emerge to satisfy it.
Agree. Too much money being made to ever shut down the illegal drug industry. Not only by the manufacturers & distributors, but everybody else involved in the cash flow such as bankers, government agencies, etc. all over the world.
The best hope to curtail cartel issues in northern mexico is to have a different buyer (if the US drug market changes). For example I hear Asia and Europe are up and coming buyer drug markets. Maybe the cartels will need to move their offices from northern mexico.