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22/02/2013 | Rumors swirl: Is king of Mexico’s narcos really dead?

Chronicle Editors

The world hasn’t seen Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera in years, but the head of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel – and certainly the most wanted man in Latin America - is rumored to be dead.

 

The Web is thick with chatter that Guzman  may have been killed just across the border from Mexico in Guatemala, but there has been no confirmation. I repeat, no confirmation.

There have been plenty of rumors about Guzman over the years. It seems perfectly reasonable to suspect even a capo as elusive as Guzman will ultimately end up dead or in prison, as they say. And so, one of these days the rumors will likely be true.

But Guzman is not just any drug king.

He has long been a symbol of many things in Mexico and stuck yet another finger in then Mexican President Felipe Calderon‘s eye when he was named to the Forbes list of billionaires.

His head was a trophy Calderon never got, a victory  that would have added much needed public support for Calderon’s long bloody war with the cartels. And it would have forced many to judge his presidency and is war to be successes.

UPDATE: Dudley Althaus, a senior news correspondent who has covered the region for years, notes that Guatemalan officials have come up with nothing to support Guzman being dead:

Guatemalan Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez, who last night had helped feed the rumor mill, this morning said officials had no proof of El Chapo’s demise nor even of a shootout that supposedly killed him. Neither Guatemala’s police nor army reported a confrontation yesterday in the area.

At first blush it would seem odd that Guzman would be in the Peten, which common wisdom holds to be the fiefdom of the Zetas, his bitterest gangland rivals. But the Zetas have been on the defensive themselves of late, perhaps creating an opening for the Sinaloa Cartel. U.S. military units are operating in the Peten region in support of Guatemalan forces. Mexico and Guatemala have been tightening anti-crime cooperation in recent months along their porous and violent border.
Chapo’s death would be hailed by Mexican and U.S. officials but almost certainly would set off bloody power struggles both within the Sinaloa Cartel and between it and rivals such as the Zetas. That in turn could scuttle President Enrique Peña Nieto’s hopes of pacifying the country following six years of hyper violence that’s claimed some 70,000 lives and left perhaps 25,000 others missing.

Below is a sample of what is on the Web:

Associated press: Guatemala probing reports of Drug Lord May Be Dead

Guatemalan authorities launched a search Friday in a remote, rural area where residents reported a gun battle between drug gangs and said one of the dead resembled Mexico’s most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Fox News Latino: “Is Mexico’s Most Wanted Drug Lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman dead?

Authorities in Guatemala are scouring a remote, rural area where local residents reported that  Mexico’s most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, was among those killed in a gun battle between warring drug gangs.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/02/22/is-mexicos-most-wanted-drug-lord-joaquin-el-chapo-guzman-dead/#ixzz2Ldtxghhl
Los Angeles Times: Narco Gun Battle Reported in Guzman’s Guatemala Territory

Intense gun battles were reported late Thursday in a remote jungle region of northern Guatemala where Mexico’s top drug lord, Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, is known to operate.

Houston Chronicle (Estados Unidos)

 


Otras Notas Relacionadas... ( Records 1 to 6 of 6 )
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22/02/2013 ''No hay información de inteligencia que ubique al Chapo en Guatemala''
22/02/2013 Investigan si ''El Chapo'' Guzmán está entre las víctimas de enfrentamiento .
22/02/2013 Guatemala - Patrullaje aéreo y terrestre en área de Petén
22/02/2013 Guatemala: No evidence of death of Joaquin ''El Chapo'' Guzman in gunfight
22/02/2013 Is Mexico’s Most Wanted Drug Lord Joaquin ''El Chapo'' Guzman Dead?
22/02/2013 Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman: Most-wanted drug lord suspected dead in shootout


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12/05/2010|

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