- Title: MEXICO-GUZMAN/HOMETOWN Mexican kingpin's home town stunned by 'bad ass' escape
- Date: 24th July 2015
- Summary: LA TUNA, SINALOA, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF TOWN SIGN THAT READS: "WELCOME TO LA TUNA" GENERAL OF HOUSE BELONGING TO MOTHER OF GUZMAN TOWN SCHOOL
- Embargoed: 8th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Mexico
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAZI1L9BH6OYC9RLBC4EHVIV8B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's home town, some thought they were dreaming and others shed tears of joy when they heard the drug lord had broken out of Mexico's top maximum security prison through a tunnel built into his cell.
A picturesque, agricultural backwater in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains of northwestern Mexico, Badiraguato has been home to some of the world's most notorious - and successful - drug traffickers.
Above them all stands "El Chapo", or "Shorty", whose second escape from prison a week ago humiliated President Enrique Pena Nieto and utterly exposed the limits of the federal government's power.
The presence of the gang boss locals refer to as "El Viejon" - The Old Man - hangs over the 400-year-old town that lives, breathes and sleeps drugs.
Extending into rugged hillsides, where living conditions can be very basic, the municipality of around 32,000 people officially has a 75 percent poverty rate.
But the town itself, lying in a valley flanked by lush green hills, has conspicuous signs of wealth such as gated villas, new cars and a recently built riverside park.
The town's mayor Mario Alfonso Valenzuela, a member of Pena Nieto's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, insists it was life as usual after Guzman was caught.
"Nothing happened here after Chapo Guzman (Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman) left. The order of things did not change, there were moments maybe of a bit of euphoria or joy by a certain sector of the population, particularly or probably from the the region, or people who somehow identify with that profile or with that business (drug trafficking) or people who by morbid curiosity or solidarity with someone who is originally from Badiraguato, somehow expresses positive remarks or are in favour of that character (Guzman),'" said Valenzuela.
At least half of Badiraguato's population cultivate marijuana, Valenzuela said, 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.
Small wonder then that some hoping to follow his footsteps were deeply affected by El Chapo's breakout of Altiplano prison in central Mexico some 17 months after he was arrested.
It is this admiration among the population that helps Guzman to remain elusive.
"Firstly, because the problem is not with them (residents). Secondly, no one will report him (Guzman) because there are other risks involved, right? But also because these people (residents) are supportive, friendly, people who somehow are family, are friends or who are economically dependent in some way (drug traffickers) but in lawful activity (those not involved in the drug business)," said Valenzuela.
El Chapo's mother still lives in the Guzman family ranch of La Tuna a few miles out of Badiraguato, and mayor Valenzuela noted that he and many other members of the local community had met her, describing her as very kind and religious.
Political Analyst, Lorenzo Meyer, said people admire Guzman because he made millions after only having a basic education.
"He (Guzman) achieved all of this of course, against the law and being a dangerous criminal, but he did it for himself and that awakens a certain admiration in a society where people cannot climb socially anymore, where the normal way (of life) is impossible for anyone born in the mountain range and who has nothing other that a basic education, to manage to accumulate more than one billion dollars."
Pick-up trucks and quad bikes bristling with masked gunmen ride through town, and paid lookouts constantly scan the plaza for unfamiliar faces.
That and other factors will make it hard for Guzman to be caught if he is in fact in Badiraguato, Valenzuela said.
"It's unbelievable what happened and I would finally say that if he escaped through a kilometre and a half (referring to the length of the tunnel), we were thinking that he's not in Badiraguato. I don't think he will come in 2015 because that is where they (authorities) would most look for him. In case he is here, it would be difficult to seize him in a 5,800 km radius Badiraguato has of territory and bordering with Chihuahua and Durango," Valenzuela said.
There is certainly evidence that Badiraguato's kingpins are tougher or sharper than their rivals.
Of the 24 capos at the top of the Mexican government's wanted list in 2009, all but three are now dead or in jail.
The three still at large were all born in the hills around Badiraguato: Guzman, 58, and his Sinaloa Cartel allies, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Juan Jose Esparragoza, alias "El Azul", both now well into their sixties. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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