El Chapo Was Not The Most Powerful Drug Lord, According To New Allegations

El Chapo Guzman has, for a long time, been considered to be the most powerful drug lord in the world, mainly because of his headline-catching exploits. Now in his 60s, he is credited for instigating drug cartel violence in Mexico after he attempted to expand into one of his rival’s territories.

Delving briefly into this, it is alleged that Miguel Angel “El Padrino” Felix Gallardo, who was El Chapo’s boss in the Guadalajara Cartel in the ’80s divided territories to trusted members of his cartel, and they included El Chapo and the Arellano Felix brothers. This was following his arrest for killing Enrique Camarena — a DEA agent in 1985.

The arrangement was supposed to eliminate any fights for supremacy. However, El Chapo had other plans and they included expanding his sphere of influence. As such, he began encroaching on a rival’s territory by sending his men to Tijuana, Baja California, to buy infrastructure such as warehouses. He also started to construct drug trafficking tunnels across the Mexican-American border.

This didn’t sit well with the Arellano Felix brothers as it was their turf. In consequence, they tortured and killed El Chapo Guzman’s men operating in the area. This forced El Chapo to retaliate by trying to assassinate Ramon Arellano Felix and Francisco Javier, sending his hitmen to eliminate them in a nightclub in Puerto Vallarta. However, the attempt was unsuccessful and soon, the brothers ordered a hit on El Chapo himself.

This caused an escalation in violence in the area. Both cartels started hiring policemen as enforcers and got ex-military men to work for them. Seeking refuge from the brothers, El Chapo Guzman went to Guatemala. This was in 1993. He was arrested soon after and extradited to Mexico. While in incarceration, El Chapo was able to run his cartel from jail. And in 2001, he escaped.

Following Osiel Cardenas Guillen’s arrest in 2003, El Chapo saw it as the opportune time to take over his rival’s territories, with Nuevo Laredo being his main area of focus. His push into the region was aided by support from the Beltran Leyva brothers who were able to convince local gangs in the area to turn against the Gulf cartel. They also incorporated law enforcement officers into their plans.

However, the Los Zetas cartel, which was also active in the region, proved hard to eliminate and introduced new levels of violence that involved dismembering and wiping out entire families in a bid to intimidate. That was in mid-2005 and led to Nuevo Laredo becoming almost lawless. Eventually, the ultra-violent character of the Los Zetas cartel ensured that they held ground, prompting El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel to give up, and focus on other areas instead. This is as reported by Stratfor.

In 2004, El Chapo is said to have ordered the murder of Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes, a leader of the Juarez cartel. In retaliation, his brother Vicente, ordered the assassination of El Chapo Guzman’s brother in prison. This caused another escalation of violence between the cartels.

However, these allegations are said to be untrue, according to a statement by El Chapo Guzman’s wife — Emma Coronel, who says he is not a violent man. This was during an interview with Telemundo. The following was her actual statement.

“He is like any other man — of course he is not violent, not rude… I have never heard him say a bad word. I have never seen him get excited or be upset at anyone.”

She also stated that the Mexican government had successfully managed to make him seem like the richest, most powerful drug lord in the world although he wasn’t. Moreover, she shot down allegations that El Chapo Guzman had billions of dollars, saying she had no knowledge of that.

[AP Photo/Marco Ugarte]