Dopeworld by Niko Vorobyov

Author:Niko Vorobyov
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

25

Dinner at El Chapo’s

When a tropical storm and heavy floods hit Sinaloa in October 2018, washing away homes and communities, help wasn’t far behind, but not from the authorities. In the villages around Culiacán, families who’d lost their homes were given stoves, blankets and mattresses with a logo bearing the initials of their benefactor, JGL – Joaquin Guzmán Loera. A viral video showed villagers smiling and waving, as an elderly woman faces the camera and says, ‘God bless you, Chapo Guzmán.’

In other countries, celebrating an outlaw behind the deaths of thousands is usually frowned upon. But, like Escobar, Chapo’s something of a local legend. He gave money to the poor; built hospitals, schools and churches.

‘The truth is, people think El Chapo is this murderer, but they don’t know him,’ Baldo explained. ‘People here love and respect El Chapo because he was very humble and if there is a problem he tries to work it out. He doesn’t want to kill anyone but he tries to fix the problem. If the problem is not fixable he kills, yes. But he creates jobs, helps people. If the kid is sick, he takes them in his plane to the hospital. If the family doesn’t have any food, he gives them some money. He is a fair man. In my eyes, he’s a great man.’

The law caught up with Chapo after tracking a henchman’s Blackberry to a hotel in the coastal resort of Mazatlán. As marines stormed the building room by room, they found two American stoners, one of whom, thinking a platoon of soldiers armed to the teeth was kicking down his door because he was smoking pot, held up his California medicinal marijuana card. Chapo and his henchman were found in another room and gave up without a fight.

But it wasn’t long before Mexico’s Most Wanted was on the loose again. Eighteen months later, Chapo escaped from the highest-security prison in the country (even in Mexico that has to count for something) through a tunnel leading from his cell to an abandoned house one and a half kilometres away, complete with aircon and a motorbike.

It was too late for me to pull a Sean Penn and try to interview the man himself: after a massive manhunt, the world’s biggest drug boss was caught after succumbing to the one weak spot of all red-blooded men – a beautiful woman. Mexican telenovela star Kate del Castillo said that only Chapo could solve the problems of the country and suggested that he ‘traffic in love’ on Twitter. Chapo sent her over some flowers and Kate agreed to meet the hopeless romantic, asking if Penn could tag along. Chapo hadn’t seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High but agreed to the interview anyway, so long as he’d get to meet Kate.

Kate and Sean were brought to a remote meeting spot in the jungle, where the drug lord informed them he didn’t want to be ‘portrayed as a nun’, since he supplied ‘more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world’.

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