El Chapo in prison the first time (1993-2001)
Between 2006-2012 at least 60,000 people have been murdered due to the Mexican drug war. While during that same period 26,121 people went missing. So, let's say a conservative estimate is 80,000 people are gone off the face of the planet due to the drug cartels. The drug cartels also make an estimated $19 to $29 billion from just US drug sales alone¹. Suffice to say that this 'war' is of epidemic proportions, I still can't help but admire Jaoquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. He has escaped from Mexican prisons, not once but twice. El Chapo is the head of the Sinaloa cartel, the largest (arguably I guess) mexican cartel.
The first time he escaped Jaoquin bribed a guard to open his electronic cell door and hopped into a laundry cart. A maintenance worker then pushed him through several doors and out the front door. Apparently 78 people have been suspected in taking part of his great escape.
Now fast forward to 2014, El Chapo has been out of prison for 13 years when he is finally caught. A joint effort from the Mexican Navy, DEA and US Marshall Service was tracking him for quite some time. Jaoquin had evaded them using tunnels, of course, when he was finally caught on February 22, 2014. He was place in a Maximum security Mexican prison: Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1. He escaped again on 11 July 2015 through a tunnel dug under the shower, which was the only spot that the cameras couldn't see. The tunnel had a modified motorcycle on a rail which led to a construction site 1.5 km away².
Modified Motorcycle
Tunnel in shower stall
Now this El Chapo fellow is most likely a mass murderer and is not someone who should be on the Wheaties box. I can't help but respect his hubris and the fact that he escaped not once but twice. I mean let's be honest that's pretty badass. If he had escaped once you can look at that as a 'one off', a fluke, but twice now that is insanity. Especially when you have a tunnel built that is 1.5km long with a custom motorcycle to propel you in style. I'm always stoked when anyone circumvents any system even if in this case he probably should still be in prison.
El Chapo Tunnel
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