MEXICO-GUZMAN/SECURITY VIDEO Mexico shows security footage of Guzman moments before he disappeared into tunnel

Record ID: 147088

  • Title: MEXICO-GUZMAN/SECURITY VIDEO Mexico shows security footage of Guzman moments before he disappeared into tunnel
  • Date: 15th July 2015
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (JULY 15, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** WIDE OF BEGINNING OF NEWS CONFERENCE BY MEXICAN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSIONER MONTE ALEJANDRO RUBIDO (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSIONER MONTE ALEJANDRO RUBIDO, SAYING: "All the security forces of the state of Mexico work in a coordinated manner to try to achiev
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2015 13:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1SX9301I54PFTXZ4VGWD6DHWM
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Mexico's government on Tuesday (July 14) broadcast security camera footage of fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in the final moments before he escaped from a maximum security prison through a tunnel in his cell on Saturday night.
    National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said security forces were hard at work to find the drug kingpin and he vowed to keep Mexicans updated on their progress.
    "All the security forces of the state of Mexico work in a coordinated manner to try to achieve quickly the capture of Guzman Loera. In this sense, the government of the Republic reiterates its commitment to continue to inform the people promptly over the activities taking place for this objective," he said at a Mexico City news conference.
    Dozens of prison workers have been questioned about the escape, which authorities have said points to complicity from officials.
    "Prison staff who were on shift during these acts has been presented to authorities to define responsibility in the case," Rubido added.
    Rubido showed a grainy video of a dressed Guzman pacing the room, looking behind the partition wall by his shower, sitting on his bed, then crouching again behind the wall, where he finally disappeared from view at 8:52 p.m. local time.
    "He changed his shoes, and went to the shower," Rubido said, explaining the footage. "You can't see what he's doing."
    The partition wall blocked the camera's view of a roughly 50-cm (20 inch) by 50-cm entrance hole to the mile-long tunnel shown by Mexican television earlier on Tuesday. It was one of two blind spots for the security cameras in Guzman's cell.
    The escape of Guzman, Mexico's most notorious drug lord, is a major embarrassment for President Enrique Pena Nieto, and was the second time the drug kingpin had broken out of prison.
    Up until his departure, Guzman's behaviour had been "normal" for a person who spent many hours in a small cell, Rubido said.
    The commissioner said the blind spots were designed to permit Guzman some privacy while he was washing.
    The video footage showed the partition wall was high enough to cover the lower half of Guzman's body while standing.
    The jail break occurred just as Pena Nieto began a four-day state visit to France. Guzman's first jail break was in 2001.
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