Why El Chapo Guzman Is a Relic in an Increasingly Ruthless Mexican Underworld Jan-Albert Hootsen - Maclean's
go to original September 2, 2015

Drug Lord: The Legend of Shorty (PBS/Corruptedfashion13)

In the mountains of Mexico’s northern state of Sinaloa, where many of the country’s most notorious drug lords were born and bred, many call him el viejón, the old guy. It is a term of endearment for Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, the world’s most wanted criminal and leader of the powerful Sinaloa drug trafficking cartel.

When last month he spectacularly escaped through a tunnel from what was supposed to be Mexico’s most secure prison, after his arrest in February last year, Guzmán was either 58 or 60 years old, depending on the source. In spite of his advanced age, he still commands significant fear and respect in the state where he was born.

But ‘El Chapo’ (‘Shorty’), as he is more widely known for his short and stocky posture, has also become somewhat of a relic. Many consider him to be one of the last traditional Mexican drug lords still alive and at large in a criminal underworld increasingly dominated by ruthless killers.

Guzmán rose to prominence in the 80s and 90s in a crime scene far less turbulent than it is now. First operating as a member of the then all-powerful Guadalajara Cartel, Guzmán slowly but surely carved out his criminal empire by trafficking drugs to the United States. He gained a reputation as a drug lord who would sooner corrupt than kill.“Chapo has always been more diplomatic in conducting his business”, says Raúl Benítez, a political scientist and security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). “He guarantees his operations by doing business with politicians to secure trafficking routes and businessmen to launder money.”

That modus operandi used to be the norm in Mexico, but times are changing.

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