MEXICAN officials claim to have come tantalisingly close to capturing Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Mexican drug lord the security forces have been hunting since he staged a spectacular escape from a maximum-security jail in July.
Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel, was injured as the authorities, along with US drug agents, were closing in on him in the northwest of the country last week.
“As a result of these actions, and to avoid his capture, in recent days, the fugitive engaged in a hasty retreat, which, according to the information received, caused him injuries to one leg and the face,” a Mexican government statement said. “The security cabinet continues to conduct all actions that will allow the recapture of this criminal.”
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Guzman humiliated the authorities after he broke out of his cell through a mile-long ventilation tunnel, equipped with tracks for a modified motorbike. Emerging at the other end through an opening disguised under a half-built house, he is thought to have been picked up by an accomplice in a helicopter.
Terrified locals in the village of El Verano, which lies in Sinaloa state, said their homes had been “peppered” with bullets as part of a big military operation to catch Guzman.
“I was out the back with the baby in my arms when I heard the first bullet hit the house. I just ran and hid behind my back wall,” Martha Marbella told the Los Angeles Times. She has since fled her home along with many of her neighbours.
The almost impenetrable area, known as “the Golden Triangle”, is the heartland of Guzman’s cartel. Authorities believe the drug kingpin was hiding out in the area because of its remote location and because he still has some local support.
Just before his arrest last year, Guzman was ranked by Forbes magazine as Mexico’s 11th-richest man and one of the world’s most powerful people. His Sinaloa cartel earns millions of pounds every year selling drugs, from heroin to marijuana, to the United States.
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His escape has raised questions about endemic corruption in the Mexican state. Of the 24 people arrested in connection with the jailbreak, all but one were government employees. The escape prompted a huge manhunt that the authorities claim aims to recapture the drug lord.
Locals in Sinaloa think otherwise. “This wasn’t a rescue mission; they were here to trap and kill,” said Marbella.