Mexico shows it can’t hold onto criminals

If you’re a wealthy drug kingpin serving a 20 year-sentence in a “maximum security” prison, Mexico is the place to do your time: History has shown your stay can be brief.

Over the weekend, Joaqumn “El Chapo” Guzman, the notorious Mexican drug lord and head of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, escaped from Altiplano prison 55 miles west of Mexico City using an elaborate mile-long tunnel that ran from his shower stall to an under-construction house.

Mexican officials say they knew nothing about the well-constructed, lighted and ventilated tunnel. So, once again, one of Mexico’s most ruthless drug lords is on the lam.

But no one on either side of the border should be surprised that Guzman, who escaped from another “maximum security” Mexican prison in 2001, managed another sensational getaway, reportedly with the help of bribed prison guards, just 17 months into a 20-year stint.

Just a month after Guzman was put behind Altiplano’s walls in 2014, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had alerted Mexican officials that they had credible evidence that various escape plans were already underway.

But Mexican officials, who turned a deaf ear to the United States’ request that the drug kingpin be extradited to face charges here, proudly vowed Guzman would never again escape from one of their prisons. In a further indictment of Mexico’s prison and justice system, there is ample evidence that Guzman continued running his drug empire even while imprisoned.

“El Chapo” — in Mexico, the Spanish equivalent of the nickname “shorty” — has proven, once again, that Mexico’s most secure prisons are anything but, provided you have the means (Guzman was once reported to have a net worth of $1 billion) and connections.

Clearly, the Mexican government has shown, once again, that because of ineptness — or corruption — it is incapable of keeping its worst criminals behind bars.

There is plenty of blame to go around in the world of illegal drug trafficking, including the seemingly insatiable demand in the United States. But it would be refreshing if Mexico, a longtime partner with the U.S. in addressing the illegal drug trade, would admit this particular shortcoming and agree to extradite people like Guzman — who has been indicted here and sought by INTERPOL.

If convicted on U.S. soil, criminals like Guzman would likely have a much harder time avoiding the sentences they so richly deserve.

— The Albuquerque Journal