By Reuters From Business Insider

Mexicans were still processing the news through the weekend that their government had recaptured the world’s top drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in a pre-dawn shootout and chase on Friday (January 8).

Guzman has been returned to the same Altiplano prison he escaped from six months ago, in a boost for the beleaguered government.

The movie-like saga that has seen Chapo returned to the government was even aided by an interview conducted by Hollywood star Sean Penn late last year which helped Mexico’s government catch the fugitive.

Reaction on the Mexican street to the recapture runs the gamut, from those living by the Altiplano prison located outside Mexico CIty who fear his return will only result in more violence, to his legions of supporters throughout the country who see Guzman as a Robin Hood figure and wish he remained at large.

The head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel was captured in a car wearing a filthy vest after fleeing through tunnels and drains from a raid on a safe house in the city of Los Mochis, in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa.

“Mission accomplished: We have him,” President Enrique Pena Nieto said on his Twitter account. “I want to inform all Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been arrested.”

For Pena Nieto, the capture of a trafficker who twice slipped out of Mexican prisons is a sorely-needed victory after his presidency was tarnished by graft and human rights scandals and the shame of the kingpin’s flight from the maximum security Altiplano prison in July.

It also provides relief to US-Mexico relations, strained by suspicion of high-level collusion given the apparent ease with which Guzman gave Mexican authorities the slip after the United States requested his extradition.

Guzman now faces possible extradition to face trial in the United States. That process could take months, although US Republican party presidential hopeful Marco Rubio was among those calling for Washington to immediately pursue extradition.

Residents of Almoloya where the the Altiplano prison is located have already noted an uptick in security as the government tries to save face.

“Well, yes there’s been a little more security. There are more reserves in the area. From before to after, you are just seeing more security,” said Almoloya resident, Francisco Eleuterio.

Once featured in the Forbes list of billionaires, Guzman led a cartel that has smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States and fought vicious turf wars with other Mexican gangs.

He was caught early on Friday after Mexican marines raided his safe house, killing five and capturing six of Guzman’s henchman. They pursued the drug lord through the northern city’s drains and caught him after a car chase through the outskirts, Attorney General Arely Gomez said.

He was flown to Mexico City and later transferred in a naval helicopter back to the Altiplano.

Many neighbours of the prison are simply freightened.

“Of course. Because he will bring more shootouts. Yes, and it’s frightened my niece in Jilotepec who says there have been shootings,” said area resident, Francisca.

Guzman, whose nickname means “Shorty,” first escaped prison in 2001 by bribing prison officials, and went on to dominate the world of Mexican drug trafficking.

He was recaptured by Pena Nieto’s government in 2014 but escaped in July by capitalising on the drug-tunneling skills his cartel honed on the US border. A mile-long tunnel equipped with electric lights, rails and a motorbike came out directly into the shower of his prison cell and he simply slipped away.

The escape heaped embarrassment on Pena Nieto, who had resisted a US request to extradite Guzman and had said previously that an escape would be “unforgivable.”

His recapture on Friday involved Mexican marines, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and US Marshals, a senior Mexican police source and a US source said.

After stopping his getaway car, the Marines took Guzman and waited for reinforcements at Hotel Doux, a love motel on the outskirts of town that rents out rooms by the hour.

Los Mochis residents described gunfire and explosions from about 3:30 a.m. (0930 GMT).

Many in the area wish he hadn’t been caught.

“My respect for ‘El Chapo,’ well my respect for all, in all truth, if it was up to me he wouldn’t have been captured,” said Laura Sanchez in Los Mochis.

Chapo has been recognised for providing opportunities for Mexico’s rural poor.

Others simply admire his ability to torment the Mexican state.

“A very intelligent person. That’s my opinion of him, because he has known how to manage things in his work,” said Eduardo Rubio.

Believed to be 58 years old, Guzman was born in La Tuna, a village in the Sierra Madre mountains in Sinaloa state where smugglers have been growing opium and marijuana since the early 20th century.

After Guzman’s first prison break, violence began to creep up in Mexico. The situation deteriorated during the 2006-2012 presidency of Pena Nieto’s conservative predecessor Felipe Calderon, when nearly 70,000 people lost their lives in gang-related mayhem.

After he managed to outmaneuver, outfight or out-bribe his rivals to stay at the top of the business for over a decade, some security experts see in Guzman’s capture new hope for Mexico.

Read the original article on Reuters at: http://www.reuters.com. Copyright 2016. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

IMAGES:

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers during a presentation at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City, Mexico January 8, 2016.

el chapoMercado Libre A popular Halloween costume of El Chapo.

el chapoReuters One of the tunnels El Chapo used to escape prison.

Mexico sinaloa opiumREUTERS/Bernardo Montoya A soldier touches a poppy plant used to make heroin during a destruction operation at Sierra de Culiacan in state of Sinaloa, December 8, 2011.

Altiplano prison MExico Guzman El ChapoHenry Romero/REUTERS Federal police officers stand guard outside the Altiplano prison in Almoloya de Juarez February 22, 2014.

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