SUMMARY: Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán has been one of the world's most notorious drug dealers since creating his own Sinaloa drug cartel in the late 1980s. Guzmán has repeatedly escaped from prison while in Mexico, and he was finally extradited to the U.S. in January 2017. Guzmán is being tried for drug trafficking, conspiring to murder rivals, gun charges, and money laundering(lying about/hiding where money actually came from). If he is convicted of these crimes, he could face lifetime in jail.
The prosecution has produced many pieces of evidence against "El Chapo," and many of his closest advisers have testified against him in court. Edgar Galvan, a member of the cartel testified that "El Chapo" had a hitman named Antonio Marrufo, who had his own white-tiled, soundproof "murder room" with it's own drain to make the clean up easier. Guzmán also electronically tracked nearly 50 people through their cell phones, and one message to his wife said, " Our [daughter] is fearless, I'm going to give her an AK-47 so she can hang with me." At that point, his daughter was only 6 months old and he was going to give her one of the most powerful firearms in the world. Also, Guzmán had a personalized diamond-encrusted pistol along with a gold plated AK-47. Finally just 4 "El Chapo" drug shipments have enough cocaine for each person in the U.S. to have a line of cocaine, which equates to about 328 million lines of cocaine in just 4 shipments.
REACTION: "El Chapo" is one of the most notorious drug lords of all time, and his trial is quite possibly the largest anti-drug trial in the history of the United States. The capture and subsequent trial of Guzmán has improved law enforcement's and other people's understandings of the inner workings of drug cartels and provided insight to the life of one of the richest businessmen in Mexico. The Jury is completing deliberations sometime this week, reaching a verdict as to the future of the kingpin of one of the largest drug cartels in the world. Even though the imprisonment of "El Chapo" might not affect the Sinaloa cartel in a very large way, the message of the power of the U.S. department of Justice may help deter other drug cartels from forming and hopefully limit the power of other major cartels currently in operation.
CONNECTION: Although this event does not directly deal with a unit that we have learned or will be learning, there is an element of border crossing and border security. After WWI and WWII, there were many border changes in Europe, as well as some border changes in southeast Asia. The collapse of the Soviet Union also led to the creation of many new independent states with their own borders. This event also relates to the Silk Road because this is a multinational trading industry with its own special path that crosses borders as well as having many "merchants," or in this case members of major cartels such as Sinaloa. Also, Guzmán's rise to power was much like the rise of the dictators, because he played on the affection of the people as well as using force to get his way and rise to power. Unlike the dictators, Guzmán did not try to control a country, he rather gained control of a large drug cartel.
QUESTIONS:
1)What verdict do you think the Jury and Judge will reach in the "El Chapo" case, and will this bring justice?
2) What can the U.S. and other countries do to help prevent drug cartels from gaining power and spreading their products all throughout the world both legally and illegally?
I think there are many clear and proven solutions to stop the drug war. In the 80s and 90s Portugal suffered from one of the worst drug epidemics of the 20th century. In the 90s about 1% of people in Portugal were addicted to heroin. This statistic disregards other drugs roaming the streets. In 2001, Portugal legalized ALL drugs. Between 2001 and 2011 drug deaths in Portugal decreased from 80 to 10. In Canada, centers where addicts could go to safely use drugs were implemented. Vancouver saw a 96% drop in HIV infections. For a US example, during the prohibition era there were huge increases in crime and black market sales. Simply put, there is one easy solution to prevent the issues of drug cartels: we need to legalize drugs.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.monarchshores.com/drug-addiction/how-much-does-the-war-on-drugs-cost
http://time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use-decriminalization/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radical-drugs-policy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it
https://www.usatoday.com/border-wall/story/drug-trafficking-smuggling-cartels-tunnels/559814001/
https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/16/health/insite-canada-injection-drug-addicts/index.html
https://www.tdpf.org.uk/blog/success-portugal%E2%80%99s-decriminalisation-policy-%E2%80%93-seven-charts
https://abc7news.com/politics/safe-injection-sites-a-success-in-canada/4092542/
https://www.vox.com/2015/10/19/9566935/prohibition-myths-misconceptions-facts
In the U.S. in 2017, at least 70,000 people died from drug overdoses. Legalizing all drugs may help the epidemic, but over 17,000 deaths are caused by overdoses of prescription drugs. (https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates). Portugal had a relatively low sample size, and if the U.S. legalized drugs the same way Portugal did and we would expect an equal percentage decrease of 87.5, nearly 10,000(8775) people would still die from overdoses. Also, cocaine, a highly addictive drug is becoming more available as south american countries broaden their cocaine production. By legalizing all drugs, more and more people will have access to drugs including children, which will cause more problems then it will solve.
DeleteEl Chapo will be put in prison for these crimes, and a large hit to El Chapo's defense was that multiple lead Sinaloa members will be testifying. Although El Chapo will (most likely) become imprisoned, I think that there will never be true justice for those people that were indirectly or directly affected by his actions. The Sinaloa cartel has brutally killed an extreme amount of people, many of them innocent. To these people's families, justice may never come. I think it would be difficult to stop these drug cartels, especially with the U.S. being the largest drug consumer in the world. American citizens and residents buy more drugs than the rest of the world combined. If no one bought drugs, there would be no cartels because they would not be able to sell anything. If you don't want cartels, don't buy the drugs. However, I think that the U.S. will never stop these cartels because of the nature of the American people. We like drugs, won't stop using them, and I think it will be extremely difficult to stop using them.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/sinaloa-cartel/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/23/mexico-crime-homicides-violence-up-report
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nationwide-trends
I think that the judge and jury will declare El Chapo as guilty and that he will go to jail for the rest of his life. Other than buying and selling drugs illegally, El Chapo bribed the the majority of the Mexican government, hired hitmen to kill people, and according to a witness during of his trials, routinely raped young girls. These horrific actions will almost definitely put El Chapo in jail, especially since many of his own cartel members are testifying against him, but I do not think that this will bring justice or have a huge affect. Putting one man from a huge cartel of more than 50,000 will not have any profound effect, especially since El Chapo ran the Sinaloa cartel in partnership with another person, who had erxperience and now has full control. Sentencing El Chapo to prison will not bring justice for the many that he has hurt. To prevent cartels like Sinaloa from growing and gaining influence, the US should inmplement tactics that they used to capture El Chapo. They started with those that had communcations with him and tracked them down. Then they used the knowledge they gained from that to infiltrate El Chapo’s own security systems. Using that, they were able to record all of El Chapo’s communications, resulting in his arrest. The US should use similar strategies to prevent other drug cartels from gaining power.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/nyregion/el-chapo-trial.html
I think the judge and jury will find El Chapo guilty and he will be imprisoned for the remainder of his life. If El Chapo does end up in prison, I do not think it will bring justice to the people who were affected by him. El Chapo did monstrous things such as murder and only seeing him behind bars will not satisfy the many lives who were hurt by him. I also think that the drug cartel will never completely come to an end. The people are already addicted to these drugs and will go through anything to get the drugs. There are also so many people involved in these drug cartels that it will be very hard to catch all of them and end their drug trade. Although the US is trying their best to end these drug cartels by using dogs and other searching cars when passing the boarder, there are still many possible ways to get the drugs into the US.
ReplyDeleteRosella Graham: As previously stated, El Chapo was one of the most infamous drug lords of the century. Ever since the 1970s when Guzman was introduced to the drug businesss by his uncle, El Chapo began smuggling marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin through Mexico, as the US was focused on their drug crackdown in other regions such as the Caribbean. For years, El Chapo would exist, murdering hundreds of people, while involving and eventually destroying thousands of innocent lives. After being locked up over the years, El Chapo has so far managed to escape the prisons with various bribes given to guards or digging his way out with tunnels. When reflecting on his actions, it is very difficult to come up with any ethical motives behind his drug cartel. Money driven, El Chapo showed no remorse to his victims and was openly willing to murder anyone standing in his path. Due to this, I am fairly confident to say that the judge and jury will find El Chapo guilty, hopefully bringing what little justice can be done to help ease the suffering of all the families and victims affected by his actions. As far as measuring what true justice his sentencing will bring, it is hard to say that his lifetime imprisonment will truly heal the wounds left by him. Since his violence occurred for so many years, the pain and suffering he caused is tremendous and will likely never be diminished. I do hope that his sentencing will help in the healing process for those affected, however I do not believe that it will add up to the amount of equity needed.
ReplyDeleteI think that the verdict for “El Chapo” is that he is going to be sent to the maximum security prison for the rest of his life. The reason being is that he was the leader of a drug cartel, selling and importing illegal drugs into the U.S. Another reason why the judge and jury will plead him guilty is because he has also ordered hitmen to kill people. Based on this source: “https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/el-chapo-trial-provides-a-deep-look-inside-the-sinaloa-cartels-drug-empire/2019/01/31/737576d4-24c6-11e9-81fd-b7b05d5bed90_story.html?utm_term=.104f4020d3bb” people have come to the court to testify against el chapo because of his planed hits on people. overall , I think that putting him in jail will bring justice for everyone. The lifetime in jail will bring a lot more suffering, for all the problems that he has caused. Also it will bring justice to the families and friends that were affected by El Chapo, after being on the run for so long, finally catching him will help put things at rest. One extreme way for the U.S. and other countries to prevent drug cartels from gaining power is to ban drugs of any sort and make sure imports are searched thoroughly. Another way is that they destroy any drug cartel by bombing it and making sure there is nothing left but rocks.
ReplyDeleteI think the jury will find that "El chapo" is guilty with numerous charges from money laundering to drug dealing and the conspiracy that he ordered or committed murder to dozens of people. After the jury makes their verdict he will most likely be sent to a maximum security prison for life. The jury is observing every piece of evidence from countless witness's, phone calls and more.
ReplyDelete(https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/nyregion/el-chapo-trial.html)
I do believe that this will bring justice to "El Chapo" for his actions, his extradition hasn't stopped the sinaloa cartel from making more money and continuing distributing its product into the U.S.. The sinaloa's cartel is structured so the Mexican governments kingpin strategy to take out the leader of a cartel to make it collapse won't work. The Cartel has split power through different people so that one person won't be able to control everything and they won't fall if he's captured. (https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/el-chapo-absence-sinaloa-cartel-remains-mexico-top-crime-group/) Even if the sinaloa cartel collapses, a new cartel would just form to take over their trade routes and become the new major drug organization in Mexico. This happened back in Columbia after the DEA killed Pablo Escobar, and the rest of the Medellin cartel fell apart, Their rival took over and exported more cocaine than Escobar ever did.
I find it funny that, in the original article, it states that El Chapo “faces life in prison if convicted,” as if they do not already have an enormous amount of evidence for his heinous crimes. Furthermore, he has apparently “pleaded not guilty” and argues that he was in fact framed (https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/06/us/el-chapo-guzman-jury-deliberations-day-three/index.html).
ReplyDeleteIn agreement with Kris, I do believe that when Joaquin Guzman is convicted, he will be detained in a maximum security area due to his history of clever prison escapes. I also think that his prison escapes in addition to his ability to transport copious amounts of drugs over the United States - Mexico border emphasizes either America’s lack of security or the drug cartel’s intelligence. His prison escapes also highlight the corruption of workers, saying in the original article that the “aid from the prison guards” helped him, hinting that they were either bribed or intimidated. This shows how powerful his empire really is, since he is able to control even government workers in the US.
The Jury and Judge will find "El Chapo" guilty but it won't bring any justice to everything that's already been done. There's too much evidence from everyone and even his former allies are testifying against him. He's responsible for smuggling at least 200 tons of cocaine into the U.S and waves of killings in turf wars with other cartels. Last week, newly unsealed court papers revealed disturbing allegations not heard by the jury — that El Chapo had sex with girls as young as 13. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/el-chapo-trial-jury-begins-deliberations-in-case-of-infamous-drug-lord-joaquin-guzman/
ReplyDeleteI think the US and other countries can't really do much to prevent the smuggling of drugs. Even after all the measures that have been put in place, there's a method that's found to bypass the system. I believe the most effective way to stop smuggling is to first check the system and make sure no one is being bribed.
El Chapo will most likely be found guilty for all his crimes and end up in jail for his whole life. He needs to go to jail in order for their to be justice towards all of the people and families he has negatively affected. The U.S. will never be able to truly suppress the drug cartels going on and that is mainly because if people were given to choose a side whether it be the cartel or the US government people they would most likely choose to not snitch on the cartel due to the horrendous acts they have done (https://globalnews.ca/news/2401731/mexican-hitman-who-killed-30-people-reveals-gruesome-reality-of-cartel-violence/). The U.S. can't do anything about the cartels selling legally because it is LEGAL but illegally they can (build a wall haha) increase the surveillance on who is coming in and out of the country and what they are bringing in with them.
ReplyDeleteSteve Thomas
I think that El Chapo will 100% be convicted for his crimes because if he isn’t, there is obviously a flaw in the justice system. This ending will serve justice to the people and families whose lives he has affected but it could also put the lives of his “closest advisors” in danger due to their honesty in court. He could still have people on the outside who are loyal to him who already have orders to kill anyone who goes against El Chapo. So, a smart step for the US government to make would be to protect these informants and locate anyone else who are still linked to El Chapo as to ensure the safety of many others.
ReplyDeleteThe verdict that they will reach in the El Chapo trial will be guilty because there is sufficient evidence of him possessing drugs smuggling them across the border. He will definitely get some sort of harsh punishment such as long jail time or paying a hefty bail. I think that the US and other countries should really tighten up their searches with incoming vehicles and passengers. Also, I think that countries should hire incognito drug traders to exploit the drug network. Lastly, countries should hire people that think like a drug dealer to help in searching vehicles and to help teach the law enforcers.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure that El Chapo will be found guilty by the Jury and Judge, and I think that he will be put in a prison for life where special measures may be made to not allow him to escape for the third time. Since so many people who worked with him testified against him, I believe he will be found guilty. Also, because of how horrible all of his crimes have been and because he has escaped maximum security prisons in the past, I believe they will put him in another one and try to prevent him from escaping. Since in the past he escaped by bribing guards, they can make sure he doesn't escape by possibly limiting his contact with the outside world and even his guards. In the future to stop drug cartels, I think the US can try to focus on working with other countries like Mexico where they are starting from and find and stop the drug operations and places where the drugs are being grown or made in, as well as try to arrest the major leaders. I believe they cannot just arrest the major leaders and give them harsh sentencing in order to stop the cartel, since El Chapo's cartel still is running and is only under different leadership. Also, making drug use for recreational purposes illegal may help prevent the rise of drug use. Despite the legal drugs for recreational use possibly being not quite as harmful, drug cartels are able to make more money off of getting the people who are legally using gateway drugs to buy harder drugs from them (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40480405).
ReplyDeleteI think that El Chapo will be found guilty of these allegations made against him. It's obvious to me that he's committed these crimes because of the outstanding evidence. He's lied to officials about how he's made money and where he keeps it. He's dug tunnels under the border to smuggle in drugs. So yeah, I think that El Chapo will be convicted guilty and deserves harsh punishment. https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/1/29/18202097/el-chapo-drug-tunnels-trial-mexico-drug-war https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/el-chapo-trial-provides-a-deep-look-inside-the-sinaloa-cartels-drug-empire/2019/01/31/737576d4-24c6-11e9-81fd-b7b05d5bed90_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.724951747f2b
ReplyDeleteI believe that the jury and judge will declare “El Chapo” guilty and will eventually face life in prison. Not only is he accused of many offenses and crimes, but they also have tons of evidence to support them. And because of his many past escapes, I think he will be put into a supermaximum security prison, and lessen the chance of yet another. Something like the Alcatraz, where it’s nearly impossible to escape. They should make sure he has no way of contacting the world outside of prison, and give him no access to anything that could potentially help him. This will hopefully bring justice to those he has poorly impacted or those in danger of being poorly impacted by him.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/national/el-chapo-trial-provides-a-deep-look-inside-the-sinaloa-cartels-drug-empire/2019/01/31/737576d4-24c6-11e9-81fd-b7b05d5bed90_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4306f5f272ec
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/06/el-chapos-trial-produced-many-fantastic-accusations-why-are-they-reported-fact/?utm_term=.c13c7a50041a
https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/25/us/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-supermax-prison/index.html