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El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers compare

2022-10-04 11:57:59Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers

In the last 50 years, 2 criminal groups have dominated the drug trade: the Medellin Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel. Each of them is headed by a charismatic figure: Pablo Escobar in Medellin and Joaquin El Chapo Guzman in Sinaloa. Their reign ended, but their reputation for cruelty still lives on.

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in New York (USA) for 10 crimes including murder, drug trafficking and money laundering. The drug kingpin will also have to serve an additional 30 years in prison and pay $12.6 billion in fines to the US.

But "El Chapo" has not been the only major drug trafficker in the Americas, he shares the title of the most powerful and dangerous drug capo since the late 1970s with someone else.

Pablo Escobar, the son of a farmer from rural Colombia, and Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, originally from Mexico's rugged Sierra Madre mountains, distributed countless amounts of cocaine and other drugs around the world before their "kingdom" to end; Escobar's in 1993 on a dirty Medellin rooftop and Guzmán's in 2017, when he was extradited to the US after being arrested in Mexico. Now, Guzman will spend the rest of his life in one of America's most isolated prisons.

As they rose to the top, Escobar and Guzmán amassed endless wealth and exposed the world to horrors of all kinds.

Escobar's Medelin Cartel and Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel trafficked different products, faced different competitors, and served different markets, but comparing them gives us a sense of their power and scope.

Pablo Escobar

Born into a modest peasant family near Medellin in northern Colombia, Escobar began his career with petty crime, but soon made the leap to smuggling and eventually began transporting large shipments of marijuana.

In the late 1970s, he and several associates began trafficking cocaine from Colombia, which remains the world's largest producer of cocaine, and in the early 1980s, his Medelin cartel exported millions of dollars worth of cocaine to the insatiable American market.

El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers

Escobar's earnings are difficult to estimate, but they are estimated at around $420 million a week in the mid-1980s, which is about $22,000 million a year. By the end of that decade, he sold 80% of the world's cocaine and smuggled 15 tons a day into the US.

Escobar spent a lot of money on himself and his family and financed local causes, building houses and soccer fields and giving money to the poor. These actions made him popular and spread an image of a popular man.

"Pablo made so much every year that we recorded 10% as a loss because it was eaten by rats in the warehouse, damaged by moisture, or lost," Escobar's brother claimed in a book he published in 2009.

Escobar's empire caught the attention of the Colombian government, which tried to put an end to it. Clashes between the government and drug traffickers sparked a year-long wave of violence in Colombia.

El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers

The Colombian government, with the help of the US, set up a task force to take down Escobar, who suffered significant casualties in his first confrontation with the cartel. In mid-1991, the government's campaign forced Escobar to negotiate a deal that allowed him to be locked up in a prison of his own design in the mountains near Medellin.

In mid-1992, evidence that Escobar was conducting drug trafficking activities from prison forced the government to arrest him. But Escobar escaped from prison and went on the run.

During this time, he and his family traveled from place to place, never staying in the same place for more than 2 days. At one point, Escobar burned $2 million in bills to warm his family.

Over time, he went into hiding himself, but kept in touch with his family, avoiding attempts by the authorities to trace communications. On December 2, 1993, his luck ran out. Colombian security forces, who were allegedly working with Los Pepes, a paramilitary group also tracking Escobar, converged on the Medellin home where he was staying.

When the door was blown down, Escobar fled across the roof. Like many details of his life, it is unclear who fired the gun that killed the world's most powerful and dangerous drug lord.

El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers

Escobar's death led to the dissolution of his cartel, but his criminal empire has had a lasting impact on Colombia. His main rival, the Cali Cartel, took control in later years learning from Escobar's mistakes. But the Cali cartel collapsed in the mid-90s, which led to some evolution in the country's underworld.

In recent years, Escobar's top assassin was released from prison and became a right-wing political activist in Colombia. Escobar's son, who has accused the media of "glorifying" criminals like his father, and his widow have recently been accused of money laundering in Argentina.

Former Colombian President César Gaviria, who oversaw Escobar's downfall, has called on the world not to fight drugs with the harsh measures he used.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman

Guzmán was not the first drug lord to emerge from the Sierra Madre mountains in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, but the cartel that bears the state's name became a global power under his leadership.

As head of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzman oversaw the cultivation of marijuana and opium throughout Mexico and turned to South American suppliers to satisfy his appetites in the United States, Europe and Asia. At its height, the cartel had a presence in 24 of Mexico's 32 states and in about 50 countries, including an extensive network in the US.

El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers

At one point, it was reported that the cartel controlled 35% of the cocaine produced in Colombia and, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, supplied 80% of the heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine that arrived in the Chicago area each year.

Gjithashtu besohet se Karteli i Sinaloas ka një prani të madhe ndërkombëtare. Aktiviteti i kartelit është zbuluar në Australi, Hong Kong dhe Filipine. Karteli ose njerëzit e lidhur me të janë vendosur në Afrikën Perëndimore dhe Veriore.

Në vitin 1993, pak pasi u ngrit në gradat më të larta në kartelin Sinaloa, Guzmán u arratis në Guatemalë pas një shkëmbimi zjarri me rivalët në Guadalajara, Meksikë, në të cilën u vra një kardinal. Ai u arrestua dhe u mbyll në një burg meksikan.

El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers

U arratis në vitin 2001, duke u fshehur në një karrocë lavanderie. Ajo arratisje thuhet se u organizua përmes personelit të sigurimit të shtetit që punonin për Guzmanin, duke treguar lidhjet e tij të ngushta me qeverinë.

Ai qëndroi në arrati për 13 vjet përpara se të arrestohej në Mazatlán, Meksikë, në bregun e Sinaloas, në shkurt 2014. Pas një qëndrimi 17-mujor në burg, gjatë të cilit ai vazhdoi të drejtonte kartelin, u arratis përsëri në mënyrë spektakolare.

Sipas një raporti, bashkëpunëtorët e kartelit hapën një tunel nën burg, por gabuan zonën. Të pazbuluar apo të pa dekurajuar, ata thjesht gërmuan një tunel tjetër, duke e lejuar Guzman të rrëshqasë dhe me një motoçikletë tw shkonte tek një shtëpi e ndwrtuar pranë burgut.

Pas 6 muajsh në arrati, Guzmán u rikthye në fillim të janarit 2016 në Los Mochis, një qytet në Sinaloa, jo shumë larg vendit ku lindi.

Në të njëjtin burg nga i cili ishte arratisur 6 muaj më parë, avokatët e Guzman bënë apele të shumta dhe vetë Guzmán dyshohet se kishte bërë plane për të lidhur një marrëveshje me autoritetet amerikane .

Shqetësimet mbetën për një tjetër arratisje, që thuhet se i shtyu autoritetet ta transferonin atë në një burg tjetër më afër kufirit të SHBA.

Qeveria meksikane miratoi ekstradimin e Guzman në gjykatat amerikane në Teksas dhe Kaliforni në fund të majit 2016 dhe avokatët e tij u përgjigjën me apele të mëtejshme .

Megjithatë, në orët e fundit të mandatit të Presidentit Barack Obama, Guzman u transferua nga një burg afër qytetit Juárez, Meksikë, dhe u dërgua në Long Island , ku autoritetet amerikane e çuan në Manhattan dhe e mbyllën në një nga burgjet më të sigurta.

El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers

Ai kaloi më shumë se një vit nën mbikëqyrje të fortë dhe pothuajse në izolim total përpara se të fillonte gjyqi i tij në nëntor 2018.

Gjatë gjyqit 34-mujor në Bruklin prokurorët paraqitën prova se ai drejtonte një organizatë kriminale të përhapur që lëvizte sasi të mëdha droge, korruptonte policinë dhe politikanët në të gjitha nivelet dhe kryente akte brutale dhune ndaj rivalëve dhe civilëve.

Guzman u dënua për të gjitha akuzat dhe u dënua me burgim të përjetshëm në ADX Florence, një burg i sigurisë maksimale në Kolorado i quajtur "Alcatraz of the Rockies".

Guzmán është treguar elastik dhe dinak, por dënimi i tij në SHBA shënon fundin e karrierës së gjatë të trafikantit 61-vjeçar dhe zyrtarët amerikanë po e kthejnë vëmendjen te 14 miliardë dollarët që ata thonë se ka fshehur.

Në Meksikë, karteli Sinaloa përballoi trazirat në muajt pas arrestimit të Guzman . Rivalët sfiduan kontrollin e djemve të Guzman dhe Zambada, të cilët thuhet se bashkuan forcat për të marrë përsipër organizatën.

Persona të armatosur sulmuan shtëpinë e nënës së Guzman , e cila ndodhet në qytetin e tij të lindjes në Sinaloa. Vetë fëmijët kanë qenë  gjithashtu në shënjestër, të paktën një prej tyre është rrëmbyer në gusht 2016, por u lirua disa ditë më vonë.

El Chapo and Pablo Escobar: how the world's TWO biggest drug traffickers

Në shkurt 2017, djemtë e Guzmanit u zunë në pritë nga njerëz të armatosur që pretendonin se punonin për Damaso López Núñez, ish-zyrtari i sigurisë, i kthyer në anëtar të kartelit, i cili u bë krahu i djathtë i babait të tyre.

Guzman and Zambada's sons appear to have gotten rid of their rivals, which included rival cartels and factions led by Guzman's brother and by López and his son, Damaso López Serrano.

The Sinaloa cartel has never had the hierarchical structure of many of its competitors, operating more like a federation of groups overseen by Guzman and Zambada, who is believed to be in his 70s. He remains powerful, but this and other large drug gangs may soon be simply "something of the past"./ VoxNews

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