El Chapo's Escape from Prison: Good for Mexico?

"That risk does not exist" brazenly stated Jesus Murillo Karam, Mexico's former Attorney General, when quizzed on the possibility of El Chapo Guzman escaping once again from the maximum-security prison where he was incarcerated. At the time of his second arrest in February 2014, Guzman's 2001 spectacular jailbreak in a laundry cart naturally had everyone asking: "Will he do it again?"

Only 16 months after being apprehended for the second time, the most visible leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, found his way back to freedom. His finely designed escape has been labeled an "egg to the face," and "the biggest embarrassment" for Mexican authorities, and, particularly, for Enrique Peña Nieto's presidency. Guzman's 2014 arrest was largely portrayed as "crowning" Peña Nieto's anti-organized crime efforts, with the president himself stating at the time that another El Chapo prison break "would be more than regrettable; it would be unforgivable...."

Continue reading: http://nationalinterest.org/feature/el-chapo%E2%80%99s-escape-prison-good-mexico-13401