Mexican security official says the prison housing drug kingpin El Chapo is secure

Record ID: 103810

  • Title: Mexican security official says the prison housing drug kingpin El Chapo is secure
  • Date: 12th May 2016
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (MAY 11, 2016) (REUTERS) OFFICIALS FROM MEXICO'S SECURITY COMMISSION WALKING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE OFFICIALS STANDING ON STAGE AT START OF NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMEN WORKING OFFICIALS STANDING ON STAGE JOURNALISTS SITTING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RENATO SALES, NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSIONER, SAYING: "The Federal Protection Commission of the National Security Commission that does this type of evaluation did an analysis of the different prisons that could be used for this transfer. I can tell you that this prison, the one in Juarez, has been remodelled and has all the conditions to guarantee good internal safe-keeping of this nature." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RENATO SALES, NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSIONER, SAYING: "We are in complete disagreement. We do not make pacts of any kind with drug cartels." OFFICIALS WALKING OUT CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO (MAY 09, 2016) (REUTERS) SIGN NEAR PRISON THAT READS "RESTRICTED AREA" SOLDIER ON DUTY IN ARMY VEHICLE NEAR PRISON VARIOUS OF PRISON'S EXTERIOR WALLS POLICE AND SOLDIERS ON DUTY NEAR PRISON
  • Embargoed: 27th May 2016 02:46
  • Keywords: El Chapo Guzman prison Renato Sales
  • Location: MEXICO CITY, CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA STATE, ALMOLOYA, STATE OF MEXICO, MEXICO
  • City: MEXICO CITY, CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA STATE, ALMOLOYA, STATE OF MEXICO, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014HI35FR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: One of Mexico's top security officials assured the public that the prison to which drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was transferred over the weekend is capable of keeping him from fleeing. Guzman has escaped Mexican prisons twice.
    "The Federal Protection Commission of the National Security Commission that does this type of evaluation did an analysis of the different prisons that could be used for this transfer. I can tell you that this prison, the one in Juarez, has been remodelled and has all the conditions to guarantee good internal safe-keeping of this nature," said Renato Sales, the National Security Commissioner.
    Last Saturday (May 7), Guzman was transferred to a prison in Ciudad Juarez on Mexico's northern border amid rumours that he would soon be extradited to the United States.
    It was not clear why he was taken to Ciudad Juarez, the lowest rated federal prison in a 2015 National Human Rights Commission report on factors including illicit activities and violent incidents.
    Guzman, boss of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, was for years the world's most wanted drug trafficker until his capture by Mexican Marines in February 2014. He then embarrassed the government by escaping from prison through a tunnel last July.
    The government recaptured him in January and President Enrique Pena Nieto said soon afterwards he had taken steps to ensure Guzman was extradited as soon as possible.
    He faces charges ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder in cities that include Chicago, Miami and New York.
    Guzman's cartel is present in Ciudad Juarez, fighting a war for control that made it the world's most murderous town in 2010. Crime has since dropped.
    As Mexico struggles to control a drug war and widespread corruption in security officers, former President Vicente Fox called for negotiating with the drug cartels.
    Sales adamantly rejected the idea.
    "We are in complete disagreement. We do not make pacts of any kind with drug cartels," he said.
    At least 60,000 people are believed to have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2000.
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