MEXICO-GUZMAN/LEGISLATORS Mexico briefs media on Guzman manhunt, kingpin remains on loose

Record ID: 146774

  • Title: MEXICO-GUZMAN/LEGISLATORS Mexico briefs media on Guzman manhunt, kingpin remains on loose
  • Date: 17th July 2015
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (JULY 16, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF MEXICO'S INTERIOR MINISTER, MIGUEL ANGEL OSORIO CHONG AND MEMBERS OF THE JOINT NATIONAL COMMISSION ON SECURITY HOLDING THEIR MEETING OSORIO CHONG ENTERS NEWS CONFERENCE AND GOES TO PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICO'S INTERIOR MINISTER, MIGUEL ANGEL OSORIO CHONG, SAYING: "We
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9GOENE8LVJHDJCXD3XQW1EPRO
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Mexico's legislators met with members of the Joint National Commission on Security for a late night meeting Thursday (July 16) to discuss the case of fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman who escaped from prison.
    Speaking at a news conference held after their meeting Mexico's Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said that anyone found to have helped Guzman escape will be punished and are traitors to their country.
    "The objectives are clear," stated Osorio Chong. "Recapture this delinquent and punish each and every one of his accomplices."
    The heat is on in Mexico as authorities pursue investigations to re-capture drug kingpin Guzman who sparked a massive manhunt after escaping from Altiplano prison on Saturday (July 11) night in a mile-long (1.5 km) underground tunnel that led from a shower into this deserted building, dealing a bitter blow for President Enrique Pena Nieto.
    The Commission were at the prison site earlier this week as they investigate whether officials at the jail colluded in the drug lord's escape.
    The government says that some 30 officials have been interrogated over Guzman's escape.
    Members of the Mexican Gendarmeria security force have been handing out flyers with information about the 70 million peso reward ($3.8 million dollars) for information leading to the capture of Guzman.
    Security forces were busy searching the area around the Almoloya de Juarez prison and interviewing local residents.
    Mexico has long sought to maintain its independence from the United States on matters of national security, but has taken fire from critics for not having previously extradited Guzman to the United States.
    Osorio Chong confirmed that the Mexican government has accepted the help of the UNited States to recapture Guzman.
    "We are working together in a coordinated way."
    The government have said they had no information on the suspected whereabouts of Guzman, who headed the powerful Sinaloa cartel before his capture in February 2014 in the northwestern city of Mazatlan.
    The cartel has smuggled billions of dollars worth of drugs into the United States and has been blamed for thousands of deaths.
    The kingpin's escape on Saturday (July 11) night from a maximum security prison through a tunnel leading into his cell has massively undermined President Enrique Pena Nieto's 's efforts to crack down on organised crime.
    Mexican security chiefs were aghast and the government said the breakout could only have taken place with the help of prison guards and officials, and fired the prison's director.
    Guzman previously broke out of prison in 2001.
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