Documents: US agents knew of ‘El Chapo’ escape plots in 2014

The escape of the world’s most-wanted drug lord from a maximum-security prison in Mexico isn’t a moment to celebrate and gloat over for most people.

The Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto has made the domestic prosecution of drug lords a point of national pride.

His escape is an embarrassing blow to Pena Nieto, whose popularity already nosedived past year after local police in the southern city of Iguala seized 43 college students and delivered them to a drug gang that allegedly slaughtered them all. Not only did he have a two-hour jump on authorities before they realized he was gone, he has a private army, air force and navy at his disposal.

Mike Vigil, former chief of the US Drug Enforcement Agency’s global operations, called Guzman’s escape “shocking”. “All the accolades that Mexico has received in their counterdrug efforts will be erased by this one event”.

El Chapo, a nickname which translates as “the midget” or “shorty” in Spanish, had been serving out a prison term following his 2014 arrest for crimes related to his activities as the leader of Mexico’s infamous Sinaloa Cartel.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman built the worlds most powerful drug trafficking organization by digging – quietly, efficiently, patiently. The cartel has been heavily involved in the bloody drug war that has torn through parts of Mexico for a decade, taking an estimated 100,000 lives or more.

The White House said Monday U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch spoke with Mexico’s attorney general the day after the escape was discovered.

Associated Press journalists near the Altiplano prison saw roads being heavily patrolled by federal police, with numerous checkpoints and a Black Hawk helicopter flying overhead. Flights were also suspended at Toluca airport near the penitentiary in the State of Mexico. The passageway, outfitted with a ladder, led to a tunnel that was about 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) tall and more than 70 centimeters (28 inches) wide. At the end of the mile-long tunnel is a half-built structure located in a farm field.

Mexican authorities said they have brought 18 prison workers to Mexico City for questioning, but it’s unclear how many may have played a role in the escape.

Guzman is the boss of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel. He pointed out that Guzman has also been charged with serious crimes in the U.S.

To pull off the escape, it’s likely the Sinaloa cartel had spent years infiltrating the country’s prison system, a Mexican official told CNN on Monday. He evaded capture in early February 2014 through an elaborate network of tunnels that connected multiple safe houses in Culiacan, in his home state of Sinaloa, but was arrested again a month later. That risk “does not exist”, Murillo Karam said.

“They’re bringing drugs”, Trump added.

With Guzman back at the helm, Mexico will see more violence while the United States will be flooded with more drugs, the ex-DEA agent said. The Drive-Bys are just stunned and impressed beyond all measure at how El Chapo built his escape tunnel.

The United States drug authorities were aware of escape plans by Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, according to DEA documents.