This archive report was first published on 19 July 2019.
On July 19, 2019, a United States federal court handed down a life sentence plus 30 years to Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán, popularly known as “El Chapo”, after he was found guilty of 10 charges including drug trafficking and money laundering.
El Chapo, 62, was extradited to the US in 2017 to face drug-related charges after he was recaptured, having escaped from a Mexican jail through a tunnel in 2016.
As the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, the largest supplier of drugs to the US, El Chapo was known for his ability to smuggle more drugs than his rivals in the 1980s by digging tunnels under the US-Mexico border.
During his trial, witnesses recounted how he tortured his cartel’s enemies, painting a picture of a ruthless leader.
Speaking through an interpreter before his sentencing, Guzmán said his incarceration in the US had amounted to “psychological, emotional, mental torture 24 hours a day.”
