Background: Sinoloa Cartel
Mexican law enforcement officials announced Saturday that Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the leader of the Sinoloa Cartel and most-wanted drug kingpin, had been arrested. Who was El Chapo, and what is the Sinoloa Cartel?
Sinoloa Cartel
The Sinoloa Cartel came into prominence in the late-1980s and early-1990s with the rise of Mexican drug trafficking. The cartel is based out of Culiacán, in the Pacific state of Sinoloa, and primarily handles transportation of narcotics across the Arizona border into the U.S. It also has a world-wide trafficking and money-laundering apparatus. Prior to Saturday’s arrest of El Chapo, there had been allegations of Mexican — and even U.S. — authorities focusing their attentions on the rivals of the Sinoloa cartel, allowing the cartel to grow in size, strength, and profit. The cartel had also used brutal violence against its enemies, primarily Los Zetas. It has been labeled the most powerful drug cartel in the world. Although not perceived as being as ruthless as some of its rivals, the Sinoloa Cartel was a major cause of the rise in drug-related violence over the last decade as a result of in-fighting between rivals factions, wars against other cartels, and establishing trafficking routes and territory.
El Chapo Guzman
Joaquin Guzman, whose nickname “El Chapo” means “Shorty,” began his career in drug trafficking and organized crime as a young man in the 1970s, overseeing smuggling operations in his native Sierra Madre mountains. His serious and ambitious approach saw him rise quickly through the ranks, controlling trafficking operations in and around Sinoloa and Western Mexico by the mid-1980s. He operated like a ruthless CEO, taking advantage of his rivals’ weaknesses to expand his business, but eschewing unnecessary risks to his operations. This is not the first time El Chapo has been captured. In 1993, he was arrested in Guatemala. After being extradited to Mexico, he was convicted and sentenced to over 20 years in prison for his drug trafficking and other organized-crime activity. He escaped in 2001 and resumed his position as head of the Sinoloa Cartel. Although the most powerful trafficker in the world, he was also the most well-protected. His homeland, in the mountains of Sinoloa, was nearly impenetrable by government forces. His charitable work with the locals kept them loyal to him. When he finally was captured, it was after he managed to slip away several times by pursuing forces after being tipped off.
International Legal Issues
Guzman has already been charged in Mexico, as well as multiple indictments in the U.S., even though he may never have set foot in the jurisdictions in which he’s being charged. The issue is now whether he should be charged and tried in Mexico, where he has previously escaped from federal custody, or extradited to the U.S. If he is extradited, the U.S. will have to decide in which jurisdiction to try him. Currently, Mexico is saying that they will try him before can be extradited, but the U.S. may apply pressure to change that.
Originally posted here on 27 Feb 2014. For more, see www.IssuesinBrief.com.
