Mexican President Shamed by Unforgivable' Escape of Cartel Boss Joaquin Guzman Ioan Grillo - TIME
go to original July 13, 2015

In February 2014, when Mexican marines captured the world’s most wanted gangster Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, a proud President Enrique Peña Nieto said the power of drug traffickers was being destroyed. Two previous Mexican Presidents had failed to nab Guzmán during 13 years on the run. But Peña Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, appeared to be better at busting these mysterious kingpins. In one interview, journalist Leon Krauze of Univision asked the President if Guzmán could ever escape from prison again as he had done back in 2001. Peña Nieto raised his hands in an incredulous gesture. “That would be more than unfortunate. It would be truly unforgivable,” Peña Nieto said. “The government will take the measures to assure that what happened years ago is not repeated.”

This Saturday, the unforgivable happened. Peña Nieto got the message as he flew to France with his Cabinet members. The 60-year-old Guzmán had fled Mexico’s highest-security prison, the Altiplano. And he had done it in spectacular fashion, going out in a tunnel that stretched 1.5 km (a mile) and had lights, air vents and a motorcycle that moved on rails. The tunnel went from a cellblock shower to a building site in a residential neighborhood, some 90 km (56 miles) from the Mexican capital.

By Sunday, the jailbreak had become a global news story, totally overshadowing Peña Nieto’s trip to France to sign trade accords. Speaking from the Mexican embassy in Paris, the President told reporters that he was ordering all forces to get Guzmán back behind bars. Soldiers searched for the kingpin from upscale Mexico City neighborhoods to the southern border with Guatemala. “This represents, without a doubt, an affront to the Mexican state,” Peña Nieto said. “But I also trust that the institutions of the Mexican state have the strength and determination to recapture this criminal.”

This latest chapter in Guzmán’s turbulent life hits the Mexican President at an already difficult time. Over the past year, Peña Nieto has been troubled by the disappearance of 43 students at the hands of cartel gunmen and corrupt police, alleged massacres by soldiers and accusations of conflicts of interest over a $7 million mansion in the name of the First Lady. His approval rating has hovered around 40%, the worst for a Mexican President in two decades. The capture of Guzmán was at least one success story. Now the kingpin has become a headache for Peña Nieto as he was for the past two Presidents.

Read the rest at TIME

Related: El Chapo's Escape Humiliates Mexican President: 'The State Looks Putrified' (The Guardian)

Related: Ioan Grillo, Author of "El Narco" on Mexico's Escaped Drug Lord (BBC)

Related: U.S. Officials Angry Over Chapo Escape in Mexico (CNN)

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