Drug Lord 'El Chapo' Has Been Caught, Says Mexican President
The arrest is expected to benefit President Enrique Peña Nieto, whose approval numbers have lately been dismal.
January 8, 2016
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced via Twitter on Friday that drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as "El Chapo," has been detained.
"Mission accomplished: We've got him. I want to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzmán Loera has been arrested," Peña Nieto wrote.
Guzmán, the leader of the country's most powerful drug cartel, was captured Friday morning by Mexican troops in the town of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa, according to the Mexican news site Animal Político.
Five people died during a shootout with Sinaloa cartel members in Friday’s operation, along with one marine, according to a statement issued by Mexico’s navy. The statement doesn’t mention the arrest of Guzmán, though news outlets including Animal Político and the Associated Press reported that the statement refers to the same attack.
Six people were arrested and one was injured in the operation, the statement said.
The arrest will help put to end an embarrassing episode for Peña Nieto, whose approval ratings have been the lowest of any Mexican president in the past two decades. Guzmán’s escape in July from the Altiplano maximum security prison, which he accomplished with the apparent collusion of jail officials, undermined public faith in the Peña Nieto administration.
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Graphic showing details of the tunnel that was built for El Chapo last year for his escape