"El Chapo" Guzman Reportedly Captured

Here's the Informador story.

Spanish:
http://www.informador.com.mx/mexico/2014/514397/6/reportan-detencion-del-chapo-guzman.htm

Google translation:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=es&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com.mx&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://www.informador.com.mx/mexico/2014/514397/6/reportan-detencion-del-chapo-guzman.htm&usg=ALkJrhhPsXPShKFdJwcvS_QrOGM75ciPrA

The New York Times is reporting the same thing:  

The New York Times | BREAKING NEWS ALERT
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BREAKING NEWS Saturday, February 22, 2014 11:40 AM EST
Joaquín Guzmán Loera, Leader of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel, Is Arrested in Mexico
The Mexican navy arrested Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. Mr. Guzmán, nicknamed El Chapo, or Shorty, is believed to lead a worldwide cocaine- and marijuana-trafficking empire worth several billion dollars.

Mr. Guzmán was arrested overnight in the beach resort town of Mazatlan, Mexico, according to officials.

Mr. Guzmán faces drug trafficking and other charges in both the United States and Mexico. He has been sought since escaping from prison in 2001 in a laundry cart after bribing his guards.

Sounds like the party is over for Mr Guzman,it will be interesting to see if he's extradited,if he is he won't be enjoying the same privileges he was able to buy in the Mexican prison system.
Things could get very ugly now...

Yes that is the scary part, fighting inside his organization and the other cartels will try to take over. Not all good news..

I'm a little apprehensive about what will happen next.  First will come the infighting to replace him as the leader of the Sinaloa cartel. While that fight is distracting the Sinaloas, the Zetas will surely make a move on them.  And the place where the two sides intersect is where I live.  I fear we will see a big surge in gang warfare in my Lerdo/Torreón area.

I'm impressed with the new government's approach to actually capturing these criminals and bringing them to justice within the system rather than the shoot-to-kill methods of the previous government. The Wild West approach had unintended consequences...all of them bad.

Best if he is extradited quickly to the USA. Far less chance of a payoff and escape there. Better yet, a short plane ride to Guantanamo Bay. Mexico can go halfers on the lease.

CanuckBob wrote:Best if he is extradited quickly to the USA. Far less chance of a payoff and escape there

Not to mention the fact that he won't be able to have hookers or mariscos delivered to his cell like when he was incarcerated at Puente Grande.

Curious that this should happen two days after the "three amigos" meeting.
Do you think that maybe Obama did some serious arm-twisting?

Pete

"The detainee will be moved to Mexico City where it will be verified his identity through fingerprints, DNA, teeth as their legal status is defined", as reported by the newspaper El Universal.

It is possible.

I have to wonder if the previous extradition order is still valid so they don't have to go through a bunch of legal BS to get a new order. If the original order can be used, maybe they can arrange a "two-fer" and ship him out with La Barbie who just lost his extradition fight: http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2014/02/la-barbie-loses-his-fight-against.html
We have all seen so many photos with El Chapo wearing a puffy insulated jacket. Maybe he was preparing himself for Supermax in Florence, CO?

Last fall, we were driving down the highway that runs near Supermax, a DOJ helicopter landed at the airport and was unloading a prisoner. No way in hell they were going to allow someone to escape with all the security we saw!

i don't see how they can try him here - surely the judges family, neighbors and neighbors of neighbors would be threatened - People can be bought and they can be killed - and he has the resources to do whatever pleases him... Note - the mexican navy arrested him - the only? non corrupt group?

According to some news reports, he was captured at the Miramar Condos right on the malecon in Mazatlan:
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or the hotel miramar   

My guess is that the government will want to keep him locked up here in Mexico in order to make an example of him as part of EPN's pledge to restore the rule of law to Mexico. The government needs to prove that they actually can hold him in a jail cell.

Thanks Mad Max! Updated versions of the story are now saying the Hotel Miramar.

>>>>El Mero Mero

http://voces.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/22/chapo-guzman-captura-foto_n_4839004.html

Some updated news and details on:
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

And lotsa news here:

http://www.informador.com.mx/318/crimen-organizado

So I guess this means da shit is going to hit the fan? Like bloqueos, burning buses and such?

Is the CJNG in aliance with cartel Sinaloa?

Probably not going to burn vehicles here. Typically they've done that in the area the leader was taken into custody.

Another reason to keep your shirt on at the beach.

"Local television broadcast a photograph of a man it said was detained in the operation, who bears a resemblance to Guzman. The man had a small black moustache, and was shirtless. There were no apparent signs of violence."

He was found in Miramar Condos (first picture posted) at address 608 in unit #401. His security detail was on 6th floor. Headed out that way this morning for our favorite cafe shop in Olas Altas and were detoured off the malecon into the city. We ride our bikes in this area often. City is getting ready for carnival which starts in a few days. Apparently went down at about 6:40 this morning without a shot being fired.

The article which follows speculates that El Mayo is all set to replace El Chapo:
http://fusion.net/leadership/story/meet-el-mayo-chief-sinaloa-cartel-446775

As could be expected, details of the El Chapo arrest are starting to be made public. It appears that he was "done in" by social networks and modern technology in the form of cell and satellite phones along with drones. I find it interesting that it has been known for quite some time that these were the tools (except drones) that the cartels were using to their advantage for communications:
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

Apparently they came very close to capturing him last Monday in Culiacan but he escaped through a network of elaborate tunnels. The following article has video of these tunnels:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/10657382/Mexico-drug-lord-El-Chapos-network-of-secret-tunnels.html