After decades of evasion and escape and enough melodrama for 10 Netflix series, El Chapo stands convicted.
The Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán now faces life in prison — and that would be a SuperMax federal prison, not the kind of place you can tunnel out of.
El Chapo’s capture and conviction have been a priority in the Mexican war on drugs. Richard Donoghue, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said this on Tuesday:
"This conviction is a victory for every family who has lost a loved one to the black hole of addiction. There are those who say that the war on drugs is not worth fighting. Those people are wrong. Every day we lose American lives, every day harm is inflicted on this country, by drug addiction. And every seizure, every arrest, and every conviction contributes to a noble effort to save American lives."
But for many in Mexico, El Chapo's capture and trial appeared to be more of a charade, says Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera. She’s an Associate Professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
Since the Mexican Drug War was launched in 2006, over 200,000 people have died, more than 30,000 people have disappeared, and new criminal organizations have emerged.
In 2008, the U.S. began providing weapons, training, and billions of dollars to Mexican security forces to fight organized crime. But the violence continues. 2018 saw more homicides in Mexico than any previous year: more than 33,000.
Guadalupe joins The Takeaway to talk about whether we could be looking at a new chapter in the war on drugs following El Chapo’s conviction.
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