MEXICO-GUZMAN/INTERIOR MINISTER UPDATE Mexico says complicity led to escape of drug lord Guzman, offers $3.8 million reward for capture

Record ID: 147023

  • Title: MEXICO-GUZMAN/INTERIOR MINISTER UPDATE Mexico says complicity led to escape of drug lord Guzman, offers $3.8 million reward for capture
  • Date: 14th July 2015
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (JULY 13, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF OFFICIALS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN INTERIOR MINISTER, MIGUEL ANGEL OSORIO CHONG, SAYING: "It had to have happened with the help of personnel and/or officials from the Altiplano Social Rehabilitation Centre. Confirming the
  • Embargoed: 29th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA69S5Q9XYH3W5C06V57TY5T7DV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Mexican authorities must have colluded with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to enable the country's top drug lord to escape from a maximum security prison at the weekend, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said on Monday (July 13).
    Guzman sparked a massive manhunt after escaping from Altiplano prison on Saturday (July 11) night in a mile-long underground tunnel that led from his cell into a deserted building, dealing a bitter blow for President Enrique Pena Nieto.
    "It had to have happened with the help of personnel and/or officials from the Altiplano Social Rehabilitation Centre. Confirming these facts, they constitute an act of corruption, disloyalty and a betrayal of Mexicans, of institutions, and members of federal forces," said Osorio Chong.
    The Interior Minister added that he had fired the head of Altiplano and two other officials in the penal system.
    "(The officials) who have been dismissed are the head of the agency for prevention and social rehabilitation, the general coordinator of federal prisons and the prison director," he added.
    Standing alongside, Mexico's Attorney General Arely Gomez said authorities would offer 60 million pesos ($3.82 million) for information leading to Guzman's capture.
    "The Attorney General of the Republic has offered a reward of up to $60 million pesos ($3.82 million US) to those who have useful and opportune information that helps in locating and results in the detention of Joaquin Guzman Loera," said Gomez.
    The interior minister, who is Mexico's top public official while Pena Nieto is in France for a state visit, gave additional details on Guzman's daring getaway, his second from a high security lockup in less than 15 years.
    Although the drug lord was under constant video surveillance, there were two blind spots where, to protect his privacy, he could not be seen, Osorio Chong said.
    During the escape, Guzman disposed of a bracelet that only he and a few other high-risk inmates had to wear, and smashed bulbs lighting up the tunnel as he fled, the minister added.
    El Chapo was one of the world's most notorious crime bosses, running the powerful Sinaloa Cartel for years.
    In 2001, Guzman bribed guards to help him escape from a prison near the city of Guadalajara after a previous arrest in 1993. He was recaptured in northwestern Mexico in February 2014.
    Osorio Chong reported that Mexico's security forces would redouble their efforts against the Sinaloa cartel and spare no expense to recapture Guzman.
    He met with state governors in the capital for a briefing on the situation.
    Mexico was also in touch with Guatemala and Belize, and Interpol had put out an alert for Guzman in more than 100 countries, the minister added.
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