Mexico: Manhunt on for escaped drug lord

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY

Mexico mounted an all-out manhunt Sunday for its most-powerful drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who escaped from a maximum security prison through a 1-mile tunnel from a small opening in the shower area of his cell, according to the country’s top security official.

The elaborate underground escape route, purportedly built without the detection of authorities, allowed Guzman to do what Mexican officials promised would never happen after his re-capture last year – slip out of one of that country’s most-secure penitentiaries for the second time.

“This represents without a doubt an affront to the Mexican state,” said President Enrique Pena Nieto, speaking during a previously scheduled trip to France. “But I also have confidence in the institutions of the Mexican state ... that they have the strength and determination to recapture this criminal.”

If Guzman is not caught immediately, the drug lord will likely be back in full command and control of the Sinaloa Cartel in 48 hours, said Michael S. Vigil, a retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief of international operations.

“We may never find him again,” he said. “All the accolades that Mexico has received in their counterdrug efforts will be erased by this one event.”

Thirty employees from various part of the Altiplano prison, 55 miles west of Mexico City, have been taken in for questioning, according to the federal Attorney General’s Office.

A manhunt began immediately late Saturday for Guzman, whose cartel is believed to control most of the major crossing points for drugs at the U.S. border with Mexico.

In the U.S., reactions to the escape ranged from disbelief to outrage, with some observers saying it dramatically illustrated the need for captured cartel kingpins to be promptly extradited to the U.S.

A former administrator of the DEA said he was dismayed by Guzman’s weekend escape.

“It is a shock that the most-dangerous cartel leader in the world has escaped,” Peter Bensinger said Sunday. “He ought to have been housed in an American prison.”

Washington’s official response was diplomatic, as Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Sunday that the U.S. shared “Mexico’s concern regarding the escape” and stood by to help in the manhunt.

At least some observers said they weren’t surprised by Guzman’s escape given Mexican prisons’ reputation, including Gal Pissetzky, a defense attorney who has represented suspected drug traffickers in U.S. courts nationwide.