"El Señor de los Tuneles" : A New Look at El Chapo's Old Tunnel

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: El Debate

The house to which "The Lord of the Tunnels" , El Chapo Guzman Loera  Escaped from Altiplano Prison, in Amoloya de Juarez,  on July 11, 2015

 Jan 19, 2018

Almoloya de Juárez.- Vigilance, eternal silence, bushes that refuse to dry up and a house that begins to show the ravages of abandonment is the panorama that is observed in the terrain where the tunnel is located, which on July 11, 2015 Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán escaped for the second time from the federal authorities, this time from the El Altiplano Prison, in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico.

By the only road to reach this house it seems that things have not changed much. Sharp stones and potholes are the norm of these roads to reach the now infamous spot, which is only visited by journalists and curious residents who want to take a tour of the place where the most famous capo in the world fled, who now lives in a prison in New York City.

In front of the maximum security prison, El Altiplano , ie,  and its surroundings, where three years ago there were huge concrete pipes that were part of the rehabilitation works of the Cutzamala System, today they are no longer visible, work has been finished and clean ground is observed. The only thing left now  is one two meter square metal sign that announces: "The federal government is building the third line of the Cutzamala System" .

         Construction right outside the prison walls masked the sounds of the tunnel's excavation

Unlike the hundreds of soldiers that were observed in those days, in mid-2015, they are now absent and only two members of the Armed Forces guard the entrance to the Altiplano area, next to a barbecue place which remains deserted, although the dust and lack of  pavement is the constant that  is still in the area.

"To go to the house where 'El Chapo' came from the prison?" , a woman is asked as she  washes clothes outside her house, surrounded by chickens, scratching  for something to eat between dry plants. The answer is a signal with her hand to keep going and without saying a word, the woman enters her home.

After walking more than 20 minutes along the dusty trail, you can see the famous house, strategically located on a small hill and opposite the maximum security prison, where most of the country's drug traffickers live.

"To go to the house where 'El Chapo' came from the prison?" , a lady is asked to wash clothes outside her house, surrounded by chickens, looking for something to eat between dry plants. The answer is a signal with the right hand to move forward and without saying a word, the lady enters her home.

After walking more than 20 minutes along the dust trail, you can see the famous house, strategically located on a small hill and opposite the maximum security prison, where alot of the country's drug now traffickers live.

The tunnel's Exit inside the unfinished and now abandoned but guarded cement block building

It is midday and an orifice of almost a meter in diameter, located in the upper part of the shed, allows the rays of the sun to illuminate with intensity the exit of the famous tunnel, one of those built by "El Chapo" to flee from the authorities . There in the land that Calixto Estrada Castillo, former owner of the five-hectare property, sold to people of the leader of the "Sinaloa Cartel" for one million 500 thousand pesos. To one side of it, broken and full of dust, there are pieces of aluminum tubes from the ventilation system used in the tunnel of the capo escape.

 
El Chapo's entrance to the escape tunnel which was underneath the toilet in his top security cell

Top Security Cell #20 Now refurbished and occupied by "Z42" Omar Trevino Morales as Chivis Reports.

The gray padlocks are rusted after three years of abandonment, as are the two doors of the basement where the mouth of the tunnel is located.  Five policemen of the State Commission of Citizen Security (CES) and three of the Federal Police (PF) who watch the construction site and its surroundings 24 hours a day affirm that they do not have the key to open the locks. "Maybe the Attorney General's Office (PGR)".

                  Inside the tunnel itself complete with lighting, ventilation and a get away track

Like the padlocks, the two doors show the securing decals of the PGR that were placed there, which are nearly invisible .

To have a better view of the people who approach, the state police, who work eight days on for another eight days off, have built a kind of "watchtower" on the roof, consisting of four metal sticks joined by  cyclonic fence mesh with  a roof made of black plastic bags that the wind and rain have worn.

With eyes focused on the strangers who visit this house, Negro, the dog that came to this place a year ago, is headed towards one of the police who guard the place for a pet. "With his barking, he warns us if a stranger or an unknown car is coming," says one of the two female state police officers, who strokes the dog's head with her right hand.

Like the padlocks, the two doors show the securing decals of the PGR that were placed there, which are nearly invisible .

From an improvised wall of concrete blocks hang a blanket announcing that the land is in possession of the Service of Administration and Disposal of Assets (SAE) with official numbers: 704385.

The five agents of the state police, two women and three men, do not have light or drainage. The rotten smell caused by the overflow of the three black water tanks located in the back of the house give account of it, due to this "we ourselves, with buckets, have to remove the sewage," says one of the police officials.

The night falls and despite "El Chapo" is 4,000 kilometers away, in a New York prison, and that more than 800 days have passed since he escaped from here, his figure is still remembered in this rural area of Almoloya de Juárez, where the neighbors tell the curious how to get to the tunnel where "El Chapo" came from.