El Chapo, Mexico’s most famous drug lord, is guilty on ten charges and will spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement in the United States. But will that change anything with the drug cartels?
Joaquín Guzmán, better known by his nickname “El Chapo,” meaning “shorty” for his diminutive stature, was convicted on all ten criminal charges associated with running a narcotics empire in Mexico. His two-month trial, based in the United States, concluded with “guilty” verdicts on all ten charges—and he will spend the rest of his life in an American jail.
It was a big victory for drug-enforcement authorities in both the US and Mexico. But the day after the verdict, both countries had to face the uncomfortable fact that their victory will probably not change the day-to-day operations of the powerful Sinaloa cartel.
Welcome back to Plain English—the perfect podcast for learning and practicing English. My name’s Jeff. JR is the producer. And this is episode number 132. For an interactive transcript of today’s program, head on over to PlainEnglish.com/132. And by interactive, I mean, we provide translations from English to Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and French. So if you don’t know what “diminutive” means, for example, you can just hover your mouse over the word—or tap on it, if you’re on your phone or tablet—and you’ll see what it means.
So that’s the transcript at PlainEnglish.com/132. We also have a variety of ways to get in touch. You can get Plain English emails with extra resources associated with every episode. You can get those by going to PlainEnglish.com/mail. Don’t forget to send JR your favorite new emoji, which we discussed last week. You can send him that to [email protected]. And if you want to check in on WhatsApp, you can find me at +1 312 967 8757.
At least one person interpreted this as an invitation to call that number, in the middle of the night. So the next day I located the “silence” feature on the Samsung tablet I use for my WhatsApp correspondence.
I’ve had a lot of fun chatting with many of you on WhatsApp. I want to say thanks to all of you who sent me links, videos, and your opinions about today’s topic via WhatsApp.
Chapo guilty on all charges
Security experts say that the Sinaloa cartel—one of the world’s most powerful drug cartels—will carry on with business as usual, despite the conviction of its former leader in the United States.
One feature of the cartel is its so-called horizontal structure, meaning that it is not dependent on one person or even a small group of people for its success. Individual bosses control their own smaller territories, called plazas, and they have individual teams of pilots, drivers, engineers, security guards, hit men, and others reporting up to the regional leaders. The cartel is currently being led by a former El Chapo associate called “El Mayo,” and the day-to-day activities, including the bribery of government officials, continues. That makes the cartel immune to the so-called “Kingpin Strategy” that the US and Mexico had been pursuing. Under that strategy, the two countries went after the leaders of the cartels—the big-shots, the kingpins—hoping to take down big parts of the enterprise. But after spending almost two decades trying to convict El Chapo, they finally got only a symbolic victory: he’s going to jail, but the cartel is just as profitable, just as corrupting, and just as violent as ever.
That’s why the new Mexican president has said he’s going to focus more on reducing violent crime than on going after the leaders of the cartels. Mexico suffered 33,000 homicides in 2018, the most violent year on record, and that was partly because of the power vacuum created by El Chapo’s arrest. Another reason for the increase in violence is that the Sinaloa cartel has a powerful new rival called the Jalisco New Generation. This cartel is a spinoff from the Sinaloa cartel and has challenged the Sinaloa cartel in some markets. That has led to clashes between the two.
The 61-year-old El Chapo was convicted on all ten charges against him, including leading a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a mandatory life sentence. Other charges included smuggling massive quantities of drugs into the United States and conspiring to murder dozens of his enemies.
The trial lasted three months, and jurors took six days to deliberate after the trial ended. The trial pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of how the cartel made, by one estimate, $14 billion over the course of thirty years. The cartel was a sophisticated business with a complicated operation. One example of the cartel’s sophistication was its use of trains to make shipments into the United States. The cartel figured out how to disguise vacuum-sealed packs of cocaine and marijuana inside train cars; they used cooking oil to disguise the packages from drug-sniffing dogs. They then leased warehouse space in big American cities like New York and Chicago to unpack the cargo. Trains would go back to Mexico hauling legitimate cargo. They brought hundreds of millions of dollars of drugs into the US in this way.
Jurors heard about how the organization ran—how it had an IT department, how its accounting worked, issues with recruitment, things like that. Sensational details about his life emerged: he had a private zoo, a $10 million beach house, private jets, a diamond-encrusted gun, and a slew of mistresses. He escaped from prison twice: first in a laundry cart, then again in a tunnel. He paid, according to witnesses, a $100 million fine to the Mexican government.
However, it’s important to remember that this glamorous lifestyle and daring escapes were just a part of the story—it was all made possible by the ruthlessness of the cartel. Jurors also heard about this dark side of the story: how El Chapo’s house had a soundproof room with a drain in the center of the floor to conceal violence; how raping young girls “gave him life;” and how he ruthlessly ordered—and carried out—murders of his enemies. Some were beaten extensively; others shot; one was buried alive. That’s not to mention all the collateral damage—all the people injured, kidnapped, and killed in all the Mexican and American towns over the years. Some estimates put it at 150,000 people just since 2006.
El Chapo is expected to serve his sentence in one of the highest-security prisons in the United States, in an isolated area in Colorado. He will probably spend 23 hours of every day in solitary confinement—with no contact with other prisoners.
A lot of the feedback I got from listeners on WhatsApp was pretty consistent. They were happy about the conviction, but were not optimistic that anything would change. Many listeners said that as long as the drugs are illegal, and as long as there is demand for it from the United States, then there will be violent criminal gangs to supply those drugs to consumers. That is probably true. One listener, Julian, sent me a pretty good video called a hundred years in ten minutes, and it was a history of the drug trade between Mexico and the US. The thought that came to mind was, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” What I mean by that is, across the years a lot has changed—different tactics by the US and Mexican governments, different kinds of drugs, different technology, whatever. But the story is the same: it’s illegal, people want it, and so criminal gangs are going to supply it.
Thanks again to all of you who wrote with your opinions.
A couple of quick greetings. I want to say hi to Thiago and his wife Brenda. They are from Brazil, but listening from the tiny European country of Luxembourg. As you know, I love it when people listen together in groups. Oh—and here’s another great one. Wallace listens with his boss, Davi, from the Brazilian city of Campinas. They listen together at the office. I absolutely love that…and you know, listening to Plain English has been known to boost you productivity. So don’t be shy about listening at the office, and including all your coworkers in the fun.
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