Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán: US to seek cartel leader's extradition from Mexico

World's most wanted drugs trafficker spent his final days of freedom scrambling through tunnels and drains

Washington will seek the extradition of Mexico's most-wanted man, the US attorney's office announced Sunday, as reports emerged that Joaquín Guzmán Loera spent his final days of freedom scrambling through tunnels and drains before ending up pinned to a bed in a beachside condominium unable to reach a Kalashnikov rifle lying on the floor.

The arrest of Guzmán (known as El Chapo, or Shorty) in the Pacific resort city of Mazatlán just before dawn on Saturday punctured the myth of untouchability that had enveloped the capo since his escape from a high-security jail in January 2001 and his rise to the status of world's most wanted trafficker.

News of Guzmán's capture has been triumphantly received in the US, where he is blamed for up to 80% of the drugs trade in cities such as Chicago, with the official response emphasising the successful collaboration of the US with the Mexican authorities.


"[The] apprehension of Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzmán Loera, by Mexican authorities is a landmark achievement, and a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States," said the US attorney general, Eric Holder. "We are pleased that we were able to work effectively with Mexico through the co-operative relationship that US law-enforcement agencies have with their Mexican counterparts."

The secretary of homeland security, Jeh Johnson, called it a "milestone in our common interest of combating drug trafficking, violence and illicit activity along our shared border".

Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in Brooklyn, said later that his office planned to seek Guzmán's extradition to face a variety of charges, although the Mexican ambassador to the US, Eduardo Medina Mora, hadearlier rejected calls for an American trial, saying it was important Guzmán was tried in Mexico.

Over the years there were numerous reported sightings of the highest profile leader of the Sinaloa cartel – named after Guzmán's native state – which already had a long trafficking tradition as far afield as Argentina. Guzmán was believed to spend most of his time, however, in the mountainous regions where he grew up in poverty.

A former high-level official of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, who was briefed about the arrest operation that involved American agencies, said Guzmán had tired of living without the luxuries he could so easily afford. "He became complacent and started coming to the city," Michael Vigil told the Associated Press. "That was a fatal error."

The Mexican attorney general, Jesús Murillo Karam, told reporters that the authorities began closing in on the 56-year-old drugs kingpin this month once they had located a network of safe houses, one of them owned by one of his former wives.

But by time the team on his trail had got through a reinforced steel door to at least one of those houses, the capo had slipped away via a tunnel leading to the city's drainage system.

A video of one of the houses shows the entrance to the tunnel under a bath, which tipped up to reveal a metal staircase below. The 5ft 6in (160cm) Chapo already had a reputation as a pioneer in the use of tunnels under the border to move drugs north and money south.

The manhunt in nearby Culiacán was accompanied by the arrest of a number of second-tier figures in the Sinaloa cartel, along with dozens of weapons, which may have helped the authorities follow his trail to a 10-floor holiday apartment block called the Miramar, on the coastal road through the city of Mazatlán, Sinaloa's main seaside resort.

Witnesses told local media that the capo had moved into the flat two days before his capture and kept a low profile. Few were willing to give many details about the much-feared drug lord.

According to a report in the Milenio newspaper, dozens of navy operatives isolated the block a little before 4am on Saturday, and quickly dominated a single lookout on the ground floor.

It was a far cry from the multiple security perimeters that had protected Guzmán in the Sierra, with the help of tip-offs from corrupt authorities. These had ensured he could woo a teenage beauty queen, who would later become his wife, with a two-day party in 2007 without being bothered.

When the authorities reached a laboratory in the same mountain range, reputedly capable of producing 100kg of crystal meth a day in 2009, the only sign of El Chapo's possible presence was a large quantity of designer suits for a very short man, as well as a catalogue of Colombian models.

But in the Mazatlán apartment block was bereft of even door reinforcements. According to the Milenio report, the marines easily broke the lock on the door to flat 401 and immobilised Guzmán on his bed before he had time to reach for his AK-47 rifle.

A video of the apartment suggests Guzmán was living in comfort, though not in a style befitting a frequent inclusion on Forbes' rich lists. The video shows a pink suitcase on a bed as well as a travel cot, although there are no reports suggesting there was anybody else inside the flat at the time of the arrest.

On Sunday, the facade of the Miramar was crowded with passers-by and motorists taking photographs of the cream-coloured Miramar condominium block with its white balconies.

By then Guzmán was locked up again in the Altiplano high-security jail, though not the same one he had left behind so embarrassingly for the authorities 13 years ago, inevitably alluded to in a rash of ballads, or corridos, that immediately turned up on YouTube. One has the lines: "With the capture of El Chapo things are not going to change / Let's see if he doesn't surprise them and escape again."

This blog is sponsored by: http://visitwebpages.info/paypalchecks

Venezuelans on streets again as protest leader awaits trial

Opposing marches on Saturday come after president Nicolás Maduro played down protest movement on Friday.

Venezuelans have taken to the streets for the second time in ten days in opposing marches for and against the Maduro administration. The government has asked women to rally around the presidential palace, while the opposition has called on supporters to protest against the country's mounting street crime and to demand the disarmament of violent pro-government groups.

What began two weeks ago in the western state of Táchira as a student-led street movement demanding that the government address safety concerns on a university campus following the assault of a student soon spread to other cities. In the capital, Caracas, the street marches were spearheaded by opposition leader Leopoldo López, who called for protests to continue until the president, Nicolás Maduro stepped down from power. López currently awaits trial in a military jail.

Since the protests began, 10 people have died, 137 have been injured and 104 arrested, according to government figures.

In a press conference with foreign media on Friday, Maduro said the protests – the worst since his razor-thin election victory against Henrique Capriles last April – are only occurring in 18 of the country's 335 municipalities, all of which, he contends, are under opposition rule.

Maduro reiterated that the events of the last two weeks are a coup-in-the-making backed by the US and financed by Colombia's ex-president Álvaro Uribe, whom Maduro accuses López of working closely with. The proof of his allegations, he says, "will soon come to light".

But as Venezuelans take to the streets again it is hard to predict whether the march will be the last, or if it will serve to inject new energy into an opposition that has been dispersed over the last couple of nights by National Guard troops firing rubber bullets and teargas and tearing down the camps students set up on street corners.

In San Cristóbal, the state-capital of Táchira, where military action was felt the strongest, troops and tanks took to the streets on Wednesday to disperse crowds and to clear debris that was blocking the city's main roads. According to locals, the internet remained down until Friday.

In another effort to neutralise mounting tensions, the minister of energy, Rafael Ramirez, has banned fuel distribution to areas he considers "under-siege".

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement condemning the systematic violation of personal freedom and the unlawful imprisonment of civilians.

Adding to the uncertainty reigning in the streets of Venezuela is the complete media blackout. Private and public TV stations in the country have given little coverage to the street protests, or even to the incarceration of López, who now awaits trial in a military prison on the outskirts of Caracas on charges of sedition.

In the most flagrant demonstration of state censorship yet, several members of a CNN team had their journalist accreditation revoked and left the country amid accusations of "contributing with their coverage to psychological warfare".

But despite accusing the US of meddling in the country's internal affairs and expelling three US diplomat, Maduro has invited Obama to "a sincere dialogue between equals".

"Accept the challenge and we will start a high-level dialogue and put the truth on the table," Maduro said in a nationwide TV address.

Michael Shifter, head of the US thinktank Inter-American Dialogue, says that despite the government's severe weaknesses, it does not appear to be on the verge of collapse.

"Given the gravity of the current situation, it is not surprising that more and more Venezuelans are prepared to take to the streets to express their profound discontent with the government's ineptitude and the country's rapid descent," he said.

"It is not clear what can be accomplished through this approach.  It depends very much on what the government does now – both in dealing with sustained protests and Venezuela's deepening economic distress. If there is no relief on the economic front, it is likely that the protests will only intensify… Any reconciliation or even meaningful dialogue between the government and opposition forces seems like a long way off."

This blog is sponsored by: http://visitwebpages.info/paypalchecks

Venezuela: chaos and thuggery take the place of the pretty revolution

Hugo Chávez's dream world has become a nightmare of shot-down protesters, jailed oppositionists, economic meltdown and a brutal war waged against a defiant middle class.

Hugo Chávez used to call it la revolución bonita (the pretty revolution), but the world looked at Venezuela last week and saw only ugliness. Protesters gunned down in the streets, barricades in flames, chaos. One of the dead was a 22-year-old beauty queen shot in the head.

With the government censoring and cowing TV reports, many of the images came from smartphones, grainy and jerky snippets filled with smoke and shouts. One fact loomed through them all: Chavismo, a hybrid system of democracy and autocracy built on populism, petro-dollars and quasi-socialism, was reaping the consequences of misrule.

Demonstrations in Caracas, Valencia, Mérida and other cities turned lethal, with student-led rallies provoking a fierce backlash from National Guard units and paramilitaries. They roared on motorcycles into "enemy" neighbourhoods, guns blazing. Families piled mattresses against windows to shield against bullets.


Human Rights Watch accused security forces of excessive and unlawful force by beating detainees and shooting at unarmed crowds. Worse may come. Jailings, beatings and killings have galvanised rather than deterred the mostly middle-class protesters. They vowed to continue until la salida, the exit of a government that has held power under Chávez, and now President Nicolás Maduro, for 15 years. "Change depends on every one of us. Don't give up!" Lilian Tintori, the wife of a jailed opposition leader, Leopoldo López, said via Twitter. Banners fluttered from buildings and barricades. "I declare myself in civil disobedience," read one.

In a televised speech to red-shirted supporters, Maduro accused the US of fomenting a coup and threatened Táchira, a particularly rebellious eastern state, with martial law. A local mayor would soon join López behind bars, he vowed. "It's a matter of time until we have him in the same cold cell." An official policy of "communicational hegemony" harnessed state media for propaganda, intimidated privately owned broadcasters, yanked one TV channel off the air and revoked work permits for four CNN journalists.

Venezuela dispute: US expels three diplomats in retaliation
2 Oct 2013
It may have resembled a regime's desperate battle for survival, affecting not just Venezuela but also its ally Cuba, which depends on Caracas for subsidised oil and supporters in the west who consider it a leftist beacon.In reality, though protests continue, the outcome is not in doubt. The government controls the police, army and courts and retains support among the poor. It remains an entrenched, formidable system of power untroubled by external threats. Despite the expulsion of three US diplomats a staple of chavista political theatre – there is no evidence of a Washington plot.

The convulsions were partly confected. López, an ambitious, Harvard-educated politician, steered student protests against crime and economic problems into a wider challenge to authority. A radical minority attacked state property with stones and petrol bombs, prompting the ferocious response by security forces and militias known as colectivos, leaving at least six dead, scores wounded and cities echoing to the sound of enraged pot-banging, a traditional form of dissent.

"I recommend they buy some stainless steel pots to last for a good 10, 20, 30 or 40 years," Maduro mocked. "Because the revolution is here for a long time!"History suggests that the president will prevail. Street protests briefly ousted his mentor in 2002 with the aid of a military-led coup tacitly backed by Washingon. Chávez bounced back. Protesters tried and failed again in 2003 by shutting down the oil industry, Venezuela's lifeblood. This time the generals and drillers appear firmly under government control. By rallying his fractious ruling coalition, Maduro could emerge even stronger.

That will not mean the revolution has won. On the contrary. In a broader, historical sense, it has already lost. This tropical would-be alternative to capitalism is a husk. It faces an existential threat not from youths chanting in plazas but from the fact that Venezuela is a shambolic, crumbling, dysfunctional ruin.

Start with the economy. The official inflation rate, 56%, is among the world's highest. There are shortages of bread, flour, meat, toilet paper and other basics. The bolívar currency has collapsed in value and is virtually unconvertible. Agriculture and industry are gasping. Newspapers are running out of paper. Airlines are threatening to cut services because the government owes them $3.3bn. Food companies are owed $2.4bn. Bond prices have plunged to levels associated with default. Recession hovers. An infrastructure once the envy of South America has suffered from lack of investment and maintenance. Power cuts leave cities in darkness. Potholes make highways look like they have been mortared. Cobwebs shroud abandoned cable cars. Even the facade of the presidential palace, Miraflores, peels and rots.

Crime is out of control. The government has stopped publishing regular statistics, but NGOs estimate the murder rate at 25,000 annually, one of the world's highest per capita rates, deadlier than Iraq. Kidnappings – people are snatched for ransom from bus stops, universities, shopping malls, airports compound public anxiety. Corrupt police and politicized, overwhelmed courts breed impunity. An estimated 97% of murders go unpunished. The list goes on. A catalogue of neglect and decay. This does not signify collapse. Venezuela is the original El Dorado, a land that seduced conquistadores with a false promise of gold only to find itself atop the world's biggest oil reserves. Billions of petro-dollars gush into the treasury every month, a replenishing source of patronage. Yet the nation's stitches are coming loose. Venezuela is unravelling.

Even if the protests abate, Maduro faces a desolate vista that mocks chavismo's grandiose rhetoric. An anti-imperialist beacon? A new path for humanity? Not while fistfights break out in supermarkets over scarce chickens. Or a diaspora of the best and brightest scatters around the world.

Middle-class anger the government can canalise and convert into polarisation, a venerable, successful strategy. But danger lies in discontent in the barrios and pueblos, the hillside slums and dusty villages that comprise core support. It almost sank the revolution a month after Chávez's death from cancer last March when Maduro, despite lopsided advantages in money, media and institutional control, managed just a narrow, contested election victory over opposition leader Henrique Capriles. That was a sign that government patronage and handouts – jobs, subsidies, houses, electrical goods were no longer sufficient compensation for the shortages, inflation and crime.

Chávez, first elected in 1998, created the system. A gifted politician and communicator, he expanded social programmes that sharply reduced poverty, cementing his image as champion of the underdog. But he proved to be a disastrous manager. Expropriations, subsidies and currency and price controls trapped the economy in a populist labyrinth. A historic oil boom and manic spending sustained the illusion of a new Jerusalem. You could fill an SUV tank for 60p. Chávez dreamily spoke of the population doubling, even quadrupling. He changed the clocks, the flag, the country's name, vowed to build new cities, artificial islands, a transcontinental pipeline.

There was a whiff of Ozymandias to it all, but foreign supporters applauded the fantasy. Oliver Stone, visiting Caracas to make a documentary, looked blank when I asked about the distortions and corruption haemorrhaging the economy. Shrewder observers writers and academics would visit and confide over rum that, yes, it all seemed a bit chaotic, then return home and publicly laud the revolution's progress.

The squandering reached such proportions that even amid record oil revenues Chávez had to borrow billions from China to confect artificial booms before elections. Maduro inherited this model and made it worse. Where Chávez had the confidence to bow to economic sanity and make painful adjustments, his successor, weaker and unloved by many on his own side, has plumped for even more reckless populism, ordering supermarkets to slash prices, jailing business owners as "speculators", sending troops to stores to liberate washing machines "for the people".

"We are in a critical situation of shortages and that's only the tip of the iceberg," said Luis Vicente León, a Caracas pollster. He predicted the difficulties would soon worsen. Workers at state-owned factories in Ciudad Guayana are in near open revolt. Teachers, doctors and nurses take turns striking. Chávez's gift for showmanship enabled him to create distractions and defuse frustration, but Maduro, stiff and wooden in comparison, relies more on thuggery. Hence the coordinated and symbolic assaults by "motorizados" on middle class neighborhoods.

There is no more pretence that the revolution is pretty. It is in the business of keeping power, no more, no less. It offers no solution to the fiasco, the tragedy, that is Venezuela.

Rory Carroll was based in Caracas as the Guardian and Observer Latin America correspondent from 2006-12. He is the author of Comandante: Hugo Chávez's Venezuela.

This blog is sponsored by: http://visitwebpages.info/paypalchecks