Mexican president says drug lord Chapo Guzman captured

World Today

FILE – In this July 16, 2015 file photo, a Federal Police shows a reward notice for information leading to the capture of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who made his escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison via an underground tunnel, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Friday that fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was recaptured seven months after he escaped from a maximum security prison.

In this file photo provided by Mexico's attorney general, shows the most recent image of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman before he escaped from the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, Sunday, July 12, 2015. (Mexico's Attorney General's Office via AP)

In this file photo provided by Mexico’s attorney general, shows the most recent image of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman before he escaped from the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, Sunday, July 12, 2015. (Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office via AP)

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name said Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzman’s home state of Sinaloa.

Pena Nieto’s tweet said in Spanish read: “Mission accomplished: We have him. I want to inform the Mexican people that Mexican Joaquín Guzmán Loera has been arrested.”

Responding to what was seen as one of the biggest embarrassments of his administration — Guzman’s July 11 escape through a tunnel from Mexico’s highest-security prison — Pena Nieto wrote in his Twitter account on Friday: “mission accomplished: we have him.”

Five people have been killed and one Mexican marine wounded in the clash.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a home in the town of Los Mochis before dawn. They were fired on from inside the structure. Five suspects were killed and six others arrested. The marine’s injuries were not life threatening.

READ MORE: How “El Chapo” escaped from jail cell

At the home marines seized two armored vehicles, eight long guns, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Story by the Associated Press


Key dates in Mexico’s pursuit of drug lord ‘El Chapo’ Guzman

June 10, 1993: Mexican authorities announce Guzman’s first capture in Guatemala.

1995: Guzman is convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Jan. 19, 2001: Guzman escapes from one of Mexico’s two top-security prisons, in Jalisco state, allegedly in a laundry cart.

2012: Mexican federal police nearly capture Guzman in a coastal mansion in Los Cabos, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with dozens of other foreign ministers in the same resort town.

Feb. 22, 2014: Mexican marines capture Guzman in a condo in Mazatlan after he eluded them for days through tunnels in Culiacan, also in the state of Sinaloa.

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 2014 file photo, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

FILE – In this Feb. 22, 2014 file photo, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

July 11, 2015: Guzman escapes from the country’s top-security prison in Mexico State through a mile-long (1.5 kilometer) tunnel.

FILE.- This July 15, 2015 photo shows the shower area where authorities claim drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, slipped into a tunnel to escape from his prison cell. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

FILE.- This July 15, 2015 photo shows the shower area where authorities claim drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, slipped into a tunnel to escape from his prison cell. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

Jan. 8, 2016: Mexican marines capture Guzman in an operation in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.


Former DEA head Anthony Coulson on EL Chapo’s capture

CCTV America’s Asieh Namdar interviewed Anthony Coulson, a former head at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Arizona, about the news of Guzman’s capture.


Former U.S. consultant Peter Vincent discusses capture of El Chapo

CCTV America interviewed Peter S. Vincent, the general counsel of Thomson Reuters Special Services and a former legal advisor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about the capture of El Chapo.