Mexico City : Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s battle against drug cartels took a massive hit with drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s escape, stripping him of his security strategy’s biggest trophy. Pena Nieto’s nearly three years in office have been marked by a remarkable number of arrests of the country’s most notorious drug kingpins.
The captures of Sinaloa cartel boss Guzman and the chiefs of the Zetas, Knights Templar and Gulf criminal groups earned praise from the United States. But Guzman’s second prison break in 14 years has undermined these achievements, while reviving accusations of corruption and impunity that have shadowed the government’s efforts. US prosecutors had wanted to extradite Guzman but Mexico’s government insisted on putting him on trial first.
“In the best case, this escape is embarrassing,” said Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican intelligence agency official.
“It dents the image of effectiveness that (the government) had projected and it forces a rethink of that narrative that we are doing well in terms of security,” said Hope, editor of the security analysis website ElDailyPost.com.
Following Guzman’s arrest in February 2014, Pena Nieto himself had acknowledged in an interview with the US channel Univision that it would be “truly unforgivable” if he escaped from prison again. Speaking during a visit to Paris yesterday, a “deeply troubled” Pena Nieto demanded an investigation on whether guards helped the inmate flee through a secretly built tunnel under his cell.
