MEXICO-GUZMAN Mexico recording provides audio of drug lord Guzman's jailbreak

Record ID: 135143

  • Title: MEXICO-GUZMAN Mexico recording provides audio of drug lord Guzman's jailbreak
  • Date: 15th October 2015
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) GUZMAN ESCORTED BY SOLDIERS AFTER ARREST ALMOLOYA DE JUAREZ, STATE OF MEXICO, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) WATCHTOWER AT PRISON POLICE AT PRISON EXTERIOR FENCE ALONG PRISON VARIOUS OF INTERIOR OF GUZMAN'S PRISON CELL VARIOUS OF TUNNEL WHERE GUZMAN REPORTEDLY ESCAPED MOTORBIKE REPORTEDLY USED IN ESCAPE MORE OF OFFICIAL IN ESCAPE TUNNEL SOLDIE
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA95BNMVDQV0TWLGY3PO1J16CDR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: RESENDING TO CLARIFY THAT SHOT #22 IS ATTORNEY GENERAL'S HANDOUT
    Loud hammering was audible in Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's prison cell when accomplices tunnelled inside to spring him in July, but guards failed to act, according to recordings released by broadcaster Televisa on Wednesday (October 14).
    Grainy video footage broadcast by Televisa revealed Guzman turned up the volume on a televisual device by his bed to drown out the noise as his helpers hammered a hole through the floor under the shower, the only blind spot in the cell.
    The government, which was severely embarrassed by the escape, had previously shown some of the same CCTV footage of the minutes before Guzman disappeared down the hole and escaped the maximum-security prison through a mile-long tunnel.
    However, unlike Televisa, the government did not supply the accompanying audio of loud banging sounds that could be heard beneath the din of the Saturday-night TV show playing in Guzman's cell as it was breached.
    Media reports had previously said the noise of the jailbreak could be heard, but no audio had been broadcast until now. It was not clear why the government had not done so.
    Senator from Mexico's leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, Alejandro Encinas, slammed the release after lawmakers' requests for the security footage had been rejected.
    "This video shown by Televisa is indicative of a profound contempt that the executive power has for legislative power. It got to a commercial television broadcaster, a video that was requested by the National Bicameral Security Commission and which has been rejected from the beginning," said Encinas.
    Televisa also showed concurrent footage of what it said was the control centre meant to be monitoring the prisoners in the Altiplano penitentiary not far from Mexico City.
    Several people were shown watching their screens but apparently failing to notice or ignoring what was happening in Guzman's cell. However, it was not possible to see what was showing on the screens of the staff in the control room.
    Encinas accused those guards and officials inside the prison of collaborating with the kingpin.
    "It's obvious that absolutely everyone, all of the workers and the officials there at that moment in the prison collaborated (in the jailbreak) and are responsible," he added.
    The government has so far arrested 34 people over the jailbreak, including a man suspected of being a pilot who flew Guzman away from the site after his escape.
    The CCTV footage on Televisa showed that guards took more than 20 minutes to check his cell after he broke out, and waited a few more before entering and checking the escape hole.
    Encinas accused authorities of lying to lawmakers over Guzman's escape during a probe on his jailbreak.
    "The authorities lied and hid information. They also lied and hid information when there was a demand for the truth before the bicameral commission and the chamber and in the presence of the interior ministry, distinct information was given," he declared.
    He added that investigations up to now had been based on lies.
    "It shows that all of the investigation up to now has been built on fiction. That all of the information which has gone public and given to the bicameral commission does not correspond to reality," said Encinas.
    Guzman, boss of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, was locked up after his capture by security forces in northwestern Mexico in February 2014. The jailbreak was his second, as he had previously escaped from prison in 2001.
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