El Chapo
Topic: Joaquin Guzman
Organization: Topical/chronological
Specific Purpose: I want to give a general overview of Joaquin Guzman’s criminal career, including his multiple escapes from federal prison.
I. Introduction
a. Attention Getter: Have any of you ever smoked weed? Done cocaine? If you answered yes, there is an almost 50% chance that it was smuggled across the border by the Sinaloa Cartel, which is controlled by one Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
b. Relevance: Guzman is the leader of one of the largest criminal organizations in the world, thus making him one of the most powerful men in the world.
c. Credibility Statement: The Mexican drug trade is always in the headlines here in Texas due to our proximity to the Mexican border.
d. Central
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Estimated annual revenue from U.S. drug trade is more than $3 billion, just short of Fortune 500 iii. Bribes at every level of the chain of command in government/military and law enforcement
1. Estimated $1 billion a year in bribes
Transition: Now that we know a little bit about the organization, let’s discuss the man who leads it, Joaquin Guzman.
b. Over the last 3 decades, he has become one of the most powerful men in the world
i. Known as “El Chapo” because his is short (only about 5’6”) ii. Joaquin Guzman was a lieutenant of the cartel when it first came to power, and took full control in the 1990s after the arrest of the preceding leader iii. Since taking over, he has smuggled more drugs and made more money than even Pablo Escobar (Forbes, 2012)
1. Made Forbes’ most powerful people in the world 2009-2011
2. 2nd richest man in Mexico behind Carlos Slim iv. The first underground tunnels used to smuggle drugs across the Mexican border into the US were built under his command
v. In 2012, the US Treasury Department named him the most powerful drug trafficking criminal in the world
Translation: Now that you have a better idea of just how powerful Guzman and his criminal enterprise are, it will be easier to believe how he escaped from maximum security prison
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Born as Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, Mr. Guzman soon became known as the infamous “El Chapo Guzmán” due to his height of five feet and six inches. With very little information regarding a birth date, he was questionably born on December 25th 1954, or April 4th 1957. Joaquín was born into a poor family located in a rural community known as La tuna de Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico. However, many generations of his family lived and died in La Tuna. It is recognized that his father was a cattle rancher, but some sources argue that he may have also been a gomero, which is a Sinaloan word for an opium poppy farmer.
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Over the last several decades, violence has consumed and transformed Mexico. Since the rise of dozens of Mexican cartels, the Mexican government has constantly been fighting an ongoing war with these criminal organizations. The cartel organizations have a primary purpose of managing and controlling illegal drug trafficking operations in Central America and South America to the United States. Violence on a massive and brutal scale has emerged due to the nature of the illegal drug trade. Because the drug trade is vastly widespread, cartels are often fighting one another and competing in business. Mexican authorities count at least 12 major cartels, but also talk of an untold numbers of smaller splinter groups. (Taipei Times). Five cartels from Mexico have risen to become the extremely powerful amongst all the drug organizations operating in Mexico. The Guadalajara Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel. These organizations, along with other distinguished Mexican cartels, have plagued Mexico with violence, terror, and fear due to the essence and nature of illegal drug trafficking.
Beith, Malcolm. “The Current State of Mexico’s Many Drug Cartels.” Insight Crimes. n.p., 25 Sep.
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...ation in a 10-vehicle convoy in July, sprayed it with hundreds of rounds of gunfire and then lobbed grenades at it. Rosas Perez survived.” This quote shows just how reckless and violent the cartel is. It also shows how they can have an affect on politics.
“Mexicans smugglers have long trafficked homegrown heroin and marijuana to the U.S. But in the 1980’s, mexico also became the primary route for colombian cocaine bound for the U.S” (Bates). According to Bates, when Guadalajara’s leader was arrested in 1989, the groups remaining capos, including a young Guzman divided up its trafficking routes, creating the Sinaloa, Juarez, and Tijuana Cartels.
Beith, Malcolm. (2013, September 24). The current state of Mexico's many drug cartels. CTC Sentinal
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