A full court press is underway in Mexico to capture or kill Enrique "El Chapo" Guzmán, the world's most wanted man. Guzmán escaped from a Mexican prison in January 2001, hiding in a laundry cart. The United States has offered $5 million for his capture, and Mexico another $2 million. The latest push to take down El Chapo ("Shorty") was reported in yesterday's Washington Post.
"(Felipe) Calderón, reportedly desperate to nail his nemesis and prove himself a winning commander in chief in an increasingly unpopular war that might cost his party the presidency, has raised the stakes to demand that Chapo be taken down before he leaves office next year," said the Post. Quoting unnamed sources, the Post said that Mexico "now operates at least three full-time capture-kill units solely dedicated to ending the reign of Guzmán," which work alongside DEA agents, who primarily provide intelligence.
A Mexican national security expert told the Post that "Chapo moves a kilo of cocaine over the U.S. border practically every 10 minutes."
In an interview with the New York Times in late September, president Calderón said that in his opinion, Guzmán is most likely in the United States. Others contend that El Chapo operates from Mexico's rugged Sierra Madre mountain range, which covers thousands of square miles and in some parts is all but impenetrable. “If I were a betting man, I would say Chapo is not too far from where he was born. I have been in those mountains, and you could live there for centuries and never be found,” said the Post article, quoting a former chief of international operations for the DEA.
The Post also said that "removing Guzman will unleash an even bigger bloodbath across Mexico, as rivals rush to fill an enormously lucrative power vacuum." “It will be a zoo,” one official told the paper.
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