Mexican President Says Drug Kingpin ‘El Chapo’ Is Captured

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Friday that fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was recaptured six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the head of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, is escorted to a helicopter in Mexico City, on Feb. 22, 2014, following his capture overnight in the beach resort town of Mazatlan. Eduardo Verdugo/AP

MEXICO CITY—Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Friday that fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was recaptured six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison.

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name said Guzman was apprehended after a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzman’s home state of Sinaloa. He said Guzman was taken alive and was not wounded.

Responding to what was seen as one of the biggest embarrassments of his administration—Guzman’s July 11 escape through a tunnel from Mexico’s highest-security prison—Pena Nieto wrote in his Twitter account on Friday: “mission accomplished: we have him.”

https://twitter.com/EPN/status/685526304058294272