Mexican drug lord Chapo Guzman is not in Argentina, government says

(Handout)

BUENOS AIRES, November 10th, 2015 (EFE) Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman is not in Argentina, the Argentine government said Monday, citing the results of an investigation.

Officials ruled out the possibility that the Sinaloa drug cartel’s leader was in the Argentina-Chile border region, after a tip put authorities on high alert over the weekend. 

“The judge handling the case has completely ruled out the veracity of said information and everything is back to normal,” Security Secretary Sergio Berni told La Red Radio.

“Everything started with a call” last Friday that forced officials to implement security protocols while trying to determine whether or not to rule out “the veracity of the information,” Berni said.

Argentina’s Federal Intelligence Agency exchanged information with the FBI and other security agencies to vet the report, locating the person who made the call.

Berni would not identify the caller, who was turned over to judicial officials, but he said the individual’s statements were not accurate.

Guzman escaped from the Altiplano I federal prison in central Mexico through a 1.5-kilometer (nearly one-mile) tunnel on July 11.

More than 30 people, including prison officials, have been arrested in Mexico in connection with Guzman’s escape.

Guzman is the subject of a $5 million reward in the United States and has a price of 60 million pesos ($3.8 million) on his head in Mexico.

The drug lord had been held at the Altiplano I prison in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, since his arrest on Feb. 22, 2014.

Guzman faces drug, money laundering and criminal conspiracy charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego.

Guzman, who was born in 1957, got his start in the drug business as a lieutenant of Miguel Angel Felix-Gallardo, the top leader of the Guadalajara cartel, in the 1980s.

Felix-Gallardo’s arrest and prosecution in 1989 led to the Guadalajara cartel being divided up and Guzman relocating to Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, and founding the Sinaloa cartel.

Guzman was eventually captured in 1993 in Guatemala and sent back to Mexico, where he was convicted on bribery charges.

On Jan. 19, 2001, Guzman escaped from the Puente Grande penitentiary in the western state of Jalisco, pulling off the Hollywood-style jailbreak by hiding in a cart full of dirty laundry in front of guards.