Chapo

Chapo, commonly known as El Chapo, is the alias of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (born 1957), a Mexican former drug lord who headed the Sinaloa Cartel, a major international drug trafficking organization. The name translates roughly as “Shorty” in Spanish. Guzmán became one of the most infamous drug traffickers in modern history due to the cartel’s scale, violence, and his ability to evade authorities for years.

The Sinaloa Cartel, under Guzmán’s leadership, coordinated the production, trafficking, and distribution of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the United States and other markets. The organization built a transnational network, leveraging bribery, corruption, and violence to maintain its operations and resist rival cartels and law enforcement.

Guzmán gained notoriety for dramatic prison escapes: he fled Puente Grande state prison in 2001 through a tunnel linked to his cell. After a 2014 capture by Mexican authorities in Mazatlán, he was extradited to the United States in January 2017 to face charges. In 2019, a U.S. federal court in Brooklyn convicted him of multiple criminal counts; he was later sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. He is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX Florence) in Colorado.

In popular culture, El Chapo has been the subject of extensive media coverage, including books, documentaries, and a television series.