Third Time’s the Charm: The Re-Re Capture of “El Chapo” in Mexico

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The second recapture of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, a.k.a. “El Chapo,” the leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, focused the region’s attention yet again.   This was the third time that the drug lord was taken into custody. The first was after he escaped from a maximum security prison in the state of Jalisco in 2001, and the second in the state of Mexico in 2015.  He was apprehended this time by Mexican marines soon after he gave a clandestine interview to U.S. actor and activist Sean Penn, and Mexican actor Kate del Castillo, who gained fame portraying a drug cartel boss.  While President Enrique Peña Nieto pointed with pride to El Chapo’s recapture, the question of his escape last July and the issue of extradition to the United States hung over the achievement.  Commentators also quickly pointed to the fact that Guzmán’s arrest does little to deal with the broader problem of Mexico’s violent drug cartels.