‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s Successor Is Much More Elusive Than The Drug Lord

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman currently has the Mexican and American authorities hot on his heels and is certainly doing his best to evade capture. Having escaped from a high level security prison in Mexico just a few months ago, El Chapo has recently had a few close shaves after being spotted for the first time by authorities since his daring escape.

According to Business Insider, an attempt to retrieve a pet monkey from one of his properties for his twin daughters almost led to his recapture. This was after investigators trailed ‘El Chapo’s henchmen sent to transport the monkey named Boots to his daughters. Apparently, Emma Coronel, El Chapo’s wife and former beauty queen and her two daughters had relocated to a house near Altiplano prison where Guzman was being held following his imprisonment, so as to be able to regularly visit him. It was during this time that the family acquired Boots and soon grew fond of it.

However, just before the drug lord broke out of jail in July, the family relocated to a new home in Durango state. After the escape, El Chapo was driven to an airport by his men, and from there on flown to Durango state, where his family awaited him in a place called Bastantitas de Abajo. It was during this time that the girls pleaded with their father to retrieve the monkey for them, in which case he chose to send his aides to get it. It is alleged that they tried to get a permit to fly the pet, but were denied.

The attempt alerted the authorities who soon spotted the monkey in a red Mustang belonging to Edgar Coronel Aispuro – El Chapo’s brother in law. Trailing the car led them to the kingpin’s hideout in the Mexican Golden Triangle, a region that encompasses the Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua states. It is alleged that once El Chapo knew he had been located, the Sinaloa cartel leader made a dash for it, breaking his leg in the process, but was quickly carried away by his bodyguards into the forest. There has been no sighting of El Chapo since.

That said, there is one man ready to take the helms of the Sinaloa cartel if El Chapo is extradited or taken out. With a drug trafficking experience spanning several decades, Ismael Zambada García, also known as “El Mayo” has so far successfully evaded prison and run-ins with the authorities, and jointly runs the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo.

According to Insight Crime, his cartel operations span the Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Durango mountainous regions, but his influence is said to be far reaching, covering the whole of Mexico, corresponding with the Sinaloa cartel’s sphere of influence.

It is said that he has used his connections in government and violence to expand his drug trafficking operations to the northern region close to the American border and towards Cancun in the south.

It is alleged that El Mayo’s links in government, and the trust that he has gained from the local population, make it very hard for the authorities to capture him. With 40 years in the business, and never arrested or filed for so much as a speeding ticket, he definitely knows how to lay low and keep the cops off his trail.

However, the Mexican government has vowed to recapture El Chapo and his cartel’s operation instruments. The following was the statement, according to Telesur.

“We will seize airplanes, clandestine landing strips, vehicles, buildings and weapons belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel and I believe this is the correct way to go about bringing them down.”

[Image via ImageGrid]