- Title: A visit to Mexican kingpin El Chapo's home town
- Date: 14th January 2016
- Summary: LA TUNA, BADIRAGUATO, SINALOA, MEXICO (JANUARY 13, 2016) (REUTERS) SIGN THAT READS: "WELCOME TO LA TUNA" VARIOUS OF TWO WOMEN WALKING WITH CHILDREN VARIOUS OF HOUSE OF MARIA CONSUELO LOERA PEREZ, MOTHER OF MEXICAN DRUG LORD JOAQUIN "EL CHAPO" GUZMAN LA TUNA RESIDENT WALKING NEXT TO VEHICLE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LA TUNA RESIDENT, ISIDRO AGUILAR GAMBOA, SAYING: "There were some policemen here the other day and yesterday there was a commando here but they left, they came from the hill." GENERAL VIEW OF HILL VARIOUS OF HILL, GUZMAN'S RANCH CALLED: 'EL CIELO' (HEAVEN) IS FOUND ON TOP (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LA TUNA RESIDENT, JOSE LUIS GUZMAN, SAYING: "It belongs to Dona Consuelo, the mother of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. They go up everyday, there are cults. It's the sister, the religious one. They go up and start shouting, there are cults up there. They have a man who looks after the place, watering the trees. The old woman pays him." VARIOUS OF HOUSE BELONGING TO BELTRAN LEYVA FAMILY (AT ITS PEAK, THE BELTRAN LEYVA CARTEL DOMINATED DRUG-TRAFFICKING IN WESTERN MEXICO) VARIOUS OF CRYPT OF BELTRAN LEYVA FAMILY / PHOTO IS OF DECEASED ARTURO BELTRAN LEYVA HELICOPTER CIRCLING OVERHEARD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LA TUNA RESIDENT, JOSE LUIS GUZMAN, SAYING: "They passed over here. I heard them buzzing on that side. They are spraying hills, (insecticide on poppy fields). There's no bad life here. People plant poppy and those who can plant maize, beans and have their animals." BACACORAGUA, BADIRAGUATO, SINALOA, MEXICO (JANUARY 13, 2016) (REUTERS) GATE AT ENTRANCE TO RANCH "LA LAGUNITA" (THE LITTLE LAGOON) BELONGING TO AURELIANO GUZMAN LOERA, ALSO KNOWN AS "EL GUANO," BROTHER OF GUZMAN GREEN HUTS IN RANCH FARMYARD VARIOUS OF CATTLE
- Embargoed: 29th January 2016 16:43
- Keywords: El Chapo Guzman drug trafficking Las Tunas arrest capture escape
- Location: LA TUNA AND BACACORAGUA, BADIRAGUATO, SINALOA, MEXICO
- City: LA TUNA AND BACACORAGUA, BADIRAGUATO, SINALOA, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA001400Y1JB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:This is Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's home town, La Tuna an agricultural backwater in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains of northwestern Mexico.
La Tuna is located in the municipality of Badiraguato, which has been the breeding ground for some of the world's most notorious - and successful - drug traffickers.
Casting a shadow on the town is "El Chapo," who was captured last Friday (January 8), six months after a brazen prison break via a mile-long tunnel that burrowed right up into his cell, and is now being held in isolation in Altiplano prison, on the outskirts of Mexico City.
El Chapo's mother, Maria Consuelo Loera Perez, still lives in the Guzman family ranch in La Tuna. The town extends into the rugged hillsides, an area with a 75 percent poverty rate and very basic living conditions for most residents.
Local officials and residents who have met Loera Perez have described her as a very kind and religious woman.
La Tuna resident Isidro Aguilar Gamboa said he had seen tighter security in the town in recent days.
"There were some policemen here the other day and yesterday, there was a commando here but they left, they came from the hill," Gamboa said.
At least half of Badiraguato's population cultivate marijuana, the same trade Guzman plied as a poor boy in the sierra with his father long before he became so rich that Forbes magazine put him on its list of billionaires.
Blessed with some of Mexico's richest soils, Guzman's home state of Sinaloa became a major producer of marijuana in the early 1900s, and later opium and heroin, after Chinese migrants fleeing political unrest brought poppy seeds across the Pacific.
Local resident Jose Luis Guzman spoke about the Guzman residence.
"It belongs to Dona Consuelo, the mother of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. They go up everyday, there are cults. It's the sister, the religious one. They go up and start shouting, there are cults up there. They have a man who looks after the place, watering the trees. The old woman pays him," Guzman said.
Also from the area are the infamous Beltran Leyva brothers who launched a bloody turf war with their former ally, El Chapo. Marriages between the two drug trafficking families have linked the clans.
This is one of the Beltran Leyva residences, which now looks empty.
For years, the Beltran Leyva brothers had worked with other Sinaloan gangsters, notably Guzman, helping to manage his network of hitmen.
Guzman reportedly tasked the Beltran Leyva organization with infiltrating Mexico's security and political apparatus.
At its peak, the Beltran Leyva cartel dominated drug-trafficking in western Mexico. After the break with Guzman, the brothers forged alliances of convenience with former rivals in the Gulf Cartel as well as the ruthless Zetas.
After the cartel's head Arturo was killed by Mexican marines in December 2009, the Beltran Leyva organization was weakened by infighting.
The hills around Badiraguato was also the birthplace of Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel allies, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Juan Jose Esparragoza, alias "El Azul."
According to local resident Jose Luis Guzman, getting a start in the business is not hard: many plant opium poppy.
"They passed over here. I heard them buzzing on that side. They are spraying hills, (insecticide on poppy fields). There's no bad life here. People plant poppy and those who can plant maize, beans and have their animals," Guzman said.
This empty looking plot of land is in fact the ranch called "La Lagunita" (The Little Lagoon) belonging to Aureliano Guzman Loera, also known as "El Guano," brother of Guzman.
Deeply concerned that Guzman could escape for a third time, Mexico has beefed up security at his prison, reinforcing the floor of his cell and placing a guard on his door around the clock.
President Enrique Pena Nieto's government says it plans to extradite Guzman to the United States, where he is wanted on an array of charges including drug trafficking, but officials have cautioned the process could take anything from 1-5 years. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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