El Chapo, Escaped Mexican Drug Lord, Is Recaptured in Gun Battle

 

Joaquín Guzmán Loera became a byword for government incompetence, a figure who seemed invincible after he burrowed his way out of the country’s most secure prison.
But on Friday, nearly six months after his escape, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, was captured again after a fierce gun battle near the coast in his home state, Sinaloa, Mexican officials said. “Mission accomplished: We have him,” President Enrique Peña Nieto announced. The arrest ended one of the most extensive manhunts undertaken by the government, involving every law enforcement agency in the country and help from the United States. But it was the marines, Mexico’s most-trusted military force, who managed to capture the fugitive in an early morning raid that left five people dead, the Mexican authorities said. An American official also described the raid as “a Mexican op, planned and executed byMexico.” The government said late Friday that Mr. Guzmán had been planning a movie about his life and that his people had been in contact with actors and producers, which had allowed the authorities to track him down. It said that the authorities had been watching a home in Los Mochis for more than a month when law enforcement officers finally saw movement on Thursday. Officials said that during the ensuing raid, Mr. Guzmán managed to slip away through the sewers, and then he surfaced, stole a car and was apprehended. The authorities took him to a hotel to wait for backup.