While he was being transferred from Mazatlán to the State of Mexico, Joaquín Guzmán Loera allegedly confessed to federal agents having murdered thousands of people
The sun was barely rising over the port of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, when the government of then-president Enrique Peña Nieto celebrated one of the most memorable arrests in Mexican history: Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán had been detained by more than twenty elements of the Navy.
The clock read 6:40 a.m. on February 22, 2014, when the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was already in the hands of the authorities. Without thinking twice, his transfer to the State of Mexico began immediately to be admitted to the Almoloya de Juárez prison – better known as ‘El Altiplano’. The 13-year hunt had come to an end.
Later, the image of Guzmán Loera, with short hair, a thick mustache and dressed in a light-colored shirt and black denim pants, was already circulating throughout the country. The 1.68 meter tall man appeared alongside taller men wearing a military uniform and a vest with the word “Navy” on it.
Some time later, Televisa announced that, although ‘El Chapo’ wore a serious and cold face, federal agents who had traveled with the capo from Mazatlán described him as a “calm, respectful” and even “charismatic” man.
They also revealed that during the journey, the former drug trafficker confessed to having murdered between two thousand and three thousand people. Among them was Ramón Arellano Félix, although he rejected that the list included Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas; homicide for which he was arrested in June 1993.
However, as he is the leader of one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico, it is possible that the number of murders committed or ordered by him were more than those he supposedly confessed to.
That same Saturday, ‘El Chapo’ entered the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (CEFERESO) No. 1 – with which he was already familiar -. He remained there for 17 years before starring in his second and last escape, the most unusual of all.
What happened to ‘El Chapo’?
After his third and last capture, carried out on January 8, 2018 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, ‘El Chapo’ returned to ‘El Altiplano’, although his stay was shorter that time.
On January 20, 2017, Mexico handed over the drug trafficker to the United States authorities, who wanted him for several crimes related to drug trafficking. Federal courts in Texas, California, Arizona, Illinois, Florida and New York required it, but he was prosecuted in the latter state.
After a trial lasting several months, Guzmán Loera was found guilty and on July 17, 2019, he was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 30 years in prison on 10 charges. He is being held at the ADX Florence maximum security prison in Colorado.
Source: Infobae
