Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jan 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post Foreign Service
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n114/a05.html

MEXICANS QUESTION ESCAPE OF DRUG LORD

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 24 -- Pizza and women. Drives in the country whenever the 
mood strikes. Guards on the payroll. A decent wine list, whites properly 
chilled in contraband ice. What more could a murderous drug lord ask from 
his maximum security prison?

But apparently that was not enough for Joaquin Guzman, a violent little 
brick of a man known as "El Chapo," who left it all behind last weekend. 
The reputed former head of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel reportedly 
paid millions in bribes to guards, and maybe the warden, and rode out of 
the maximum security Puente Grande prison hidden in a laundry truck. In his 
wake, Guzman, who had been incarcerated since 1993 on a 20-year sentence 
for drug trafficking, left a slew of nagging and embarrassing questions, 
mainly this: Is Mexico really so utterly and hopelessly corrupt that one of 
the country's most notorious convicts could live like a king in jail, then 
just walk away?

"All the prison bars and millions of pesos spent on security systems are 
useless if prisoners leave through the door," said Jorge Tello Peon, the 
country's chief of public security. "What happened . . . is proof of the 
capacity of corruption, or rather structural corrosion, of national 
institutions by organized crime, particularly drug traffickers."

Guzman's spectacular escape has triggered a national soul-searching about 
the depth of corruption within law enforcement agencies and the best way to 
clean it up. President Vicente Fox has renewed his vow to crack down on 
drug traffickers, promising more extraditions to the United States and 
tougher prison conditions in Mexico. Fox has said he wants to end a culture 
in which drug traffickers can buy their way out of prosecution, and those 
unlucky enough to go to prison "live like masters."

In a speech today in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa, Fox vowed to redouble 
his efforts to curb drug traffickers and all forms of organized crime. 
"Today I reaffirm our war without mercy against the pernicious criminal 
mafias," he said.

Fox pledged a "great reform" against crime "so every family can sleep 
peacefully, so we all can live without fear of going out into the street, 
without assaults or humiliation, without the fear of losing everything at 
the hands of the criminals."

Fox didn't offer any specifics of his plan, but said he believed "public 
insecurity" could only be cured by a two-pronged approach against criminals 
and against the poverty and despair that can lead to crime.

Guzman's escape came a week after Fox's government ordered an investigation 
of corruption at the prison and the Mexican Supreme Court issued a ruling 
clearing the way for more extraditions to the United States. Guzman, who is 
wanted in the United States on drug charges, also fled on the day he was 
reportedly scheduled to have been moved to a higher security area of the 
prison, located in the city of Guadalajara.

Whether the timing was a coincidence, or a decision by Guzman and his 
colleagues that things were getting too hot for comfort, is unclear. 
Interior Minister Santiago Creel, the country's top security official, told 
reporters he believed "we're seeing some reaction precisely to the progress 
we've made in the last few weeks."

Clearly, however, Guzman's case, the arrest of the prison warden and the 
questioning of 33 guards suggest how deep corruption runs. And this week's 
all-out manhunt to rearrest Guzman is an attempt by Fox's government to 
disabuse the country's worst fears about the government's impotence in the 
face of rich and powerful drug traffickers.

As hundreds of officers searched for Guzman, human rights officials 
described Mexico's lax prison conditions and the ability of rich inmates to 
buy whatever they wanted -- from illegal drugs to their freedom. They said 
the problem has existed for years and was ignored by the government.

"We know that the structure of public security in this country is sick from 
top to bottom," said Marti Batres Guadarrama, a member of Congress.
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