An article saying that Mexican officials arrested the wrong man--Gregorio Chavez--on Saturday when they captured drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is from a “satire” site.
The article was published on Huzlers.com, which publishes fake news stories.
“Family members of Gregorio Chavez are claiming he is the man currently under arrest by the government of Mexico and are falsely claiming him as famed drug lord Joaquin Guzman,” the article reads.
On the bottom of each page, it says, “Huzlers.com is a combination of real shocking news and satire news to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.” However, the website mostly just publishes fake news stories.
The fake Huzlers article on Guzman offers no sources, and no other media claimed anyone named “Gregorio Chavez” was arrested instead.
CNN and The Associated Press, both citing U.S. law enforcement officials, reported that Guzman was arrested in Mazatlan in Sinaloa. He was taken by masked marines across an airport tarmac to a helicopter before going to jail.
A federal law enforcement official said Guzman was captured with intelligence gathered from a Homeland Security Department investigation.
Phil Jordan, who once headed the DEA’s El Paso Intelligence Center, told CNN that Guzman’s capture is a welcome development but precarious.
“It is a significant arrest, provided he gets extradited immediately to the United States,” he told CNN. “If he does not get extradited, then he will be allowed to escape within a period of time.”
He added: “When you arrest the most powerful man in the Americas and in Mexico, if you talk to any cartel member, they'll say that he’s more powerful than Mexican President Peña Nieto. This would be a significant blow to the overall operations not only in the Americas, but Chapo Guzman had expanded to Europe. He was all over the place. If he is, in fact, incarcerated, until he gets extradited to the United States, it will be business as usual.”
