BY ANGELA DANIELS
‘El Chapo’ trailed to the top of tweeter yesterday, suggesting that Joaquin Guzman, the drug lord had escaped yet again from the Mexican Maximum Security jail, but it was a false alert.
Rather, it was more bad news for the 1 billion dollar strong drug criminal. Amid recent complaints of his current prison conditions while awaiting extradition proceedings to the US, Operation Diablo Express- a joint Mexican- US force has bust El Chapo’s Sinaloa’s cartel in a surprise attack, targeting high-level members of the drug organisation.
Twenty- two of the gang have been arrested, two were killed in the police raid, near the Mexican- US border, where assault weapons and 250 kilograms of what appeared to be marijuana were seized according to the authorities. The police had surrounded a building in the desert, outside a small town where an armed group was running drug and migrant smuggling operations, highlighting Donald Trump- American Presidential candidate who promises to build a high wall against Mexico in order to keep out the drugs and illegal immigrants
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Washington had helped extensively in the recapture of Guzman in January this year, in what was described as ‘a jaw-dropping tunnel escape from the Maximum Security prison.
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Rick Jervis wrote in USA Today that to prevent Guzman escaping for the third time, Mexican authorities have been moving him from cell to cell and reinforcing the prison floors with metal rods.
Guzman himself complained recently through his lawyer that he was not sleeping properly since returning to the prison, because of a boisterous guard dog and hourly checkups by prison officers. The restless dog has been trained to recognise the scent of the errant entrepreneur. The Mail quoted Guzman as saying in the note passed to his lawyer, Jose Gonzales through a third party. ‘I haven’t been able to sleep at all. They wake me up to take the register every hour during the day, and every two hours at night, and there’s a dog next to me which barks a lot and stops me sleeping’. His lawyer has also stated in a public declaration that Guzman has not seen his family since before he was detained. He put this down to there not being facilities at all, such as a phone.
The situation dangle between El Chapo’s human rights and the proven need to secure his presence in the prison, as the notorious drug magnate has set a thriller-level reputation, where in the past, he had gone all length to successfully plan his escape, and he seemed able to bribe anyone. Questions remain about his ties with a Sinaloa legislator who visited him three months before his last escape in July 2014. There is yet no sign that somebody is feeling confidently justified to strongly demand for the relaxation of the super maximum security. Well, his lawyer, Jose Gonzales, in calling for improved conditions is quoted by the Mail as saying, ‘Unfortunately, we have arrived at the conclusion that he may as well be dead. I don’t know if he’s there or not’. Gonzales handed the complaints to the media. His hands seem to be tied.
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While the world is held in suspense as to whether another escape can be successfully plotted, during the long wait on extradition, an ominous silence is maintained by both Washington and Mexico City what is to happen about Sean Penn, the American actor who interviewed Guzman for seven hours for a film the fugitive sought to make about himself, while still on the run. Officials claimed that the meeting with Sean Penn was instrumental to them capturing Guzman. Penn had published in the Rolling Stone magazine, the interview with the hope- to-be drug film star.
The saga trails Kate del Castillo, embroiled in a money laundering probe after helping Penn Interview the drug kingpin. It would appear she was the reason Guzman escaped to the jungle where he was re-captured, reportedly almost obsessed with her.
Last week, America’s National Post wrote about Guzman being depressed. The prison officials gave him a book to read- Don Quizote, by Miguel de Cervantes, a 17th Century epic about a man who set out on adventures as a so-called knight, with the aim of reviving chivalry and becoming famous. They think Guzman lives in a world of delusion and may benefit from the book. Eduardo Guerrero, head of the prison system told the National Post that Guzman ‘appeared depressed’ and was ‘tired of being on the run’. They are telling him indirectly that he he is deluded, wanting a bio film. One wonders where all of this is going for him emotionally.
Guzman is living in uncertainty, while fighting extradition. He has plenty of time to worry about the future. He knows he will probably spend the rest of his life under super maximum security, living in acute isolation and darker depression, likely away from his native country. He will probably suffer much abuse. He has the blood of many staining his hands, having started his drug trade only at 15.
Once a child, the oldest of seven children and born in La Tuna of Sinaloa, he grew up surrounded by marijuana and poppy crops cultivated by his father. That was the life he knew, like many who grew up with the drugs and in deep poverty. The drug legend might have been a legend in something positive. He is evidence of a combination of talent and environment- in this case, negative environment. Children do not raise themselves. What we see today is Joaquin Guzman, the finished product, The tragedy of a child. The real legend is lost.
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