El Chapo Guzman: The Trade-in For His Son’s Life
Joaquin El Chapo Guzman has for many years been revered as the most powerful drug lord in Mexico. Currently in prison following his recapture in January this year, his drug trafficking empire has slowly been crumbling down. Just last week one of his sons, Jesus Alfredo Guzman, and five other men believed to be members of the Sinaloa drug cartel were kidnapped by a gang of seven men at a resort in Puerto Vallarta.
The gang of kidnappers was alleged to be from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the biggest drug trafficking organizations in Mexico. An off-shoot of El Chapo Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel, it has at times been seen to be working for the organization and as in the kidnapping incident, against it. Just last year after El Chapo Guzman’s escape from prison, it was reported that the Jalisco New Generation cartel aided his escape.
According to documents obtained by the Excelsior newspaper, El Chapo was at the time of incarceration actively communicating with his lawyer and members of the CJNG. The following is an excerpt from the report by Business Insider.
“According to investigators, Guzmán, his lawyer, and the CJNG communicated in order to “manage the payment of honorariums to the entire legal team that was directing the legal defense of Guzmán and his associates.
In their statement to legislators, investigators did not elaborate on the cooperation between Sinaloa and CJNG. But coordination between the two cartels on financial matters could be a sign that Mexico’s two dominant cartels are cooperating to some extent.”
With such an extent of cooperation already established, numerous scenarios have been painted as to why the cartel chose to kidnap El Chapo Guzman’s son this month. Mexican authorities and analysts have cited the incident as one orchestrated to use El Chapo Guzman’s son as a bargaining chip, most likely for concessions related to drug trafficking corridors.
With the older and more experienced Chapo in prison, it is likely that the cartel saw it as the right time to expand into his territories. Of course, with such close ties between El Chapo’s family and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, it is probable that the organization knows a lot about the Guzman family and its weaknesses, and took advantage of this.
Other reports indicate that the CJNG has been challenging El Chapo’s drug trafficking outfit in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, with the areas recently experiencing a spike in deaths resulting from warring cartels. According to Guillermo Valdes, who was once the director of Mexico’s intelligence services, Jesus Guzman made a grave error going into CJNG’s territory without armed bodyguards, and the error may prove to be very costly in the kidnappers’ negotiations with his father. The following was his exact statement, as reported by CBS News:
“It’s a grave error that is going to cost them a lot, either in life or in a very costly negotiation. If you’re in a fight with these gentlemen of the Jalisco New Generation, you don’t go to their territory without bodyguards.”
The kidnapping could also be as a result of a dispute between the cartels that had to be settled, but either way, Guzman’s son is believed to have been a bargaining chip. Jesus Alfredo Guzman is said to have been released one week later, and is currently in his home state of Sinaloa. Meanwhile, his father is in a prison in Juarez awaiting an extradition order to the United States.
El Chapo’s partner in the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael Zambada García, also known as El Mayo is said to be running the cartel on his behalf. However, it remains to be seen whether El Chapo Guzman’s cartel will hold out for long as the biggest drug trafficking organization in Mexico amid all the turf wars in areas it controls.
[AP Photo/Marco Ugarte]
