2013-02-23 08:59:13

Rumours of drug lord's death unconfirmed


Red faced Guatemalan officials are gingerly backing away from initial claims that the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel has been killed in a gun battle.

Rumours about the death of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman spread like wildfire, after an unconfirmed report that a body from a gun battle in the Peten zone of Northern Guatemala, bordering Mexico, resembled him. Troops and helicopter gunships have swept the area and haven't even found any traces of a fire fight.

A senior Mexican Presidential Spokesman says there's no confirmed evidence that Guzman is dead. And Guatemala's Minister of the Interior concedes the data was, quote: "Chaotic."

The only salient fact about the unsubstantiated assumption is that the Sinaloa cartel and the Zetas are fighting tooth and nail throughout the border zones of Southern Mexico and Northern Guatemala.

Guzman, who changes locations almost as often as cell phones, is guarded by a heavily armed phalanx of bodyguards. For him to be caught in an ambush is unlikely. He bribed his way of a so called Mexican maximum security jail in January 2001, just before he was due to be extradited to the United States. His only public appearances since than have been in Forbes Magazine's Richest and Most powerful lists.

Listen to James Blears’ report: RealAudioMP3










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