MAZATLAN, Mexico — Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, one of the world's biggest drug traffickers and Mexico's most-wanted fugitive, was captured Saturday in a joint U.S.-Mexican operation after more than a decade on the run, officials of both countries announced.
Guzman was arrested by agents who burst into the seaside condominium in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan where he had moved just two days earlier.
His capture was a huge symbolic blow to Mexican drug trafficking, a world in which he had reached folk hero status, and an important victory for the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto.
How Guzman's removal will affect the drug trade is less clear. His Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's oldest, richest and most powerful marijuana and opium organization, has already expanded to more than 50 countries in the Americas, Europe and Africa, and is likely to continue without him.
"This is the biggest blow to drug trafficking by the Mexican government in many, many years," said Samuel Gonzalez, former federal prosecutor who headed the government's anti-narcotics squad in the 1990s. "It will, at least for a while, affect the flow of drugs to the U.S., though not necessarily the violence in Mexico."
Others said it would make no difference at all.
The elusive drug lord was paraded briefly before reporters Saturday afternoon at the Mexican navy's air hangar in Mexico City, where he was whisked from Mazatlan. He seemed slightly pudgy, in a white shirt and blue jeans, with abnormally black hair and a black mustache. He did not resemble the last known photos of him, which date to his arrest in Guatemala in 1993. He had been on the run since escaping from a Mexican maximum security prison in 2001, reportedly by hiding in a laundry cart.
First word of the arrest came from U.S. officials in Washington. Mexican Atty. Gen. Jesus Murillo Karam said the capture was the result of months of work and that the Mexican government delayed announcing it until it was able to conduct a DNA test to be sure it had the right man.
"He has been 100% identified," Murillo said. He said Guzman had been hiding in a network of houses connected by tunnels that allowed him to elude authorities.
Murillo made slight mention of U.S. assistance, reflecting the Peña Nieto government's effort to distance itself from Washington's help, a contrast to the extraordinarily close relationship the previous government of President Felipe Calderon had with U.S. officials.
Residents in the 11-story seaside Miramar Condominium complex where Guzman was captured said he had moved in two days ago. They said the operation to capture him lasted about an hour and a half, starting about 4:30 a.m., when they noticed soldiers, police and, eventually, helicopters surrounding the complex. No shots were fired.
"There was no violence," said one resident, who asked to remain anonymous because of concern for his safety. "I had no idea who was living next door!"
In recent days, the Mexican marines raided properties in Sinaloa belonging to close associates of Guzman, including that of one of his ex-wives. They had captured several high-level lieutenants; it is possible one of them fingered Guzman.
There was a strong possibility that U.S. officials, who had put a $5-million bounty on Guzman, would quickly demand his extradition.
"He's already escaped from one Mexican jail," a U.S. official said. "Now we want him."
Guzman was being tracked for some time by Mexican authorities aided by undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and officials with the U.S. Marshal's Service, according to a Homeland Security official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The capture came after an informant alerted authorities that Guzman had been attending a party at a resort in the Mazatlan area, despite earlier intelligence that the cartel leader had been in hiding for years in the mountains.
"He was on our radar for several weeks," the law enforcement official said.
According to residents of the complex, four men, three women and a baby were taken away along with Guzman. The door of the apartment had been kicked in and the place ransacked. Clothes were strewn about, and a crib was visible in one room.
Guzman, thought to be in his late 50s, has long been considered the top prize and most elusive figure in a drug war that has left tens of thousands of Mexicans dead.
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