By: Garrett Speller
The multiple prison breaks of “El Chapo” Guzmán, the most recent on July 11th, seem more like film or fantasy than real life. The drug lord escaped Mexico’s highest security federal prison via a tunnel, which was over one mile long. This is neither his first nor most unworldly successful escape attempt. In January of 2001, he hid in a basket of dirty laundry that was smuggled out of the same prison under everyone’s collective nose. The most recent escape has sparked accusations of corruption in the Mexican government, and it has led to the arrests of 30 separate people, some of them prison officials.
About a week before the 27th of October, Mexican authorities nearly caught the escapee in his home state of Sinaloa, where he sustained an injury to the face and the leg. Authorities were apparently able to track him because of his daughter’s pet monkey, which was being transported using proper documents.
Osorio Chong, mexican secretary of the interior, assured that no U.S. law enforcement personnel are on the ground for the manhunt, and the U.S. is merely providing intelligence to Mexican authorities. There is currently a 5 million dollar reward for any information leading to capture in the U.S., and there are 60 million pesos on his head in Mexico. Osorio finished his talk by saying “We’re working on his capture, but it would be irresponsible to say we’ve got him in one place or that we’re surrounding him.”
