Stakes rise as drug war threatens to cross border

CNN, 5/18/2009

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, a 54-year-old drug cartel leader whose nickname means “Shorty,” is the most wanted man in Mexico. He’s also one of the most wanted men in the United States.

For five years, the State Department has kept a $5 million bounty on his head, calling Guzman a threat to U.S. security.

Guzman, who leads the Sinaloa cartel, is a key player in the bloody turf battles being fought along the border.

He recently upped the stakes, ordering his associates to use lethal force to protect their loads in contested drug trafficking corridors, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Read more…

Drug cartels keep Catholic officials in fear

Los Angeles Times, 4/21/2009

Drug Kingpin Joaquin Guzman

In the tense state of Durango, Roman Catholic Archbishop Hector Gonzalez announced over the weekend that the fugitive drug trafficker who tops Mexico’s most wanted list was living nearby.

And everyone knows it, he added. Except, it would seem, the authorities, who fail to make an arrest.

A shocking revelation indeed. But in Durango, most local newspapers and television stations declined to report the comments, and for some reason national papers that contained the remarks did not appear on many newsstands.

Read more…

Mexico blasts Forbes for putting drug lord on list

Reuters, 3/12/2009

Medina Mora

Mexico’s government condemned Forbes Magazine on Thursday for putting the country’s most wanted man, a violent drug lord, on its annual list of the world’s richest people.

Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman made the prestigious business magazine’s list for the first time on Wednesday, sharing the 701st spot at $1 billion in assets. The amount was based on his estimated share of drug shipments to the United States.

Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora accused U.S.-based Forbes of coming to the defense of a criminal and said it was “deplorable” for the publication to compare Guzman with honest and law-abiding business people.

Read more…

Mexican ‘drug lord’ on rich list

BBC, 3/12/2009

Joaquin Guzman Loera

Forbes magazine’s latest list of the world’s billionaires includes Mexico’s most wanted man – Joaquin Guzman.

The 54-year-old, who is said to be the head of one of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels, is 701st on the list with an estimated fortune of $1bn. Mr Guzman’s slice of that pie comes from his assumed control of the Sinaloa cartel, which is named after the Mexican state in which it is based.

Read more…