Joaquin Guzman Loera Analysis

An Analysis of the Rise of Joaquin Guzman Loera and the Sinaloa Drug Cartel

The rise of Joaquin Guzman Loera is directly related to the “family business” of drug dealing, which was a part of his upbringing. Guzman’s father was known to grow his own opium crops, but more importantly, he had abused his son on a regular basis. After living with his grandfather for some time, he had worked as an agricultural farmer, but he soon became involved with drug running for Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo: “But as an adolescent found an escape, working for the Guadalajara cartel run” (Abadinsky 155). In 1989, Guzman took control of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel after Gallardo’s arrest, which defines his leadership role in the organization throughout the 1990s.

A combination of extreme violence (assassinations of political officials, competitors, etc.) and the development of networks of underground tunnels led Guzman to become the top drug smuggler across the border. However, Guzman was eventually arrested in 1993, which forced him to manage the Sinaloa Cartel from a prison cell. In this manner, Guzman had to overcome a series of extreme obstacles to continue the management of the cartel with direct leadership of the organization in daily drug running operations. Guzman, however, utilized the monetary power of his organization to bribe jail guards and manipulate the prison system to his advantage. This aspect of the Mexican prison system defines the clever means of business operations that enabled Guzman to continue to grow as a drug leader without actually being directly involved in the drug trade. In this manner, it was suspected that Guzman had paid off government officials and prison guards, which facilitated his “escape” as a pathway to freedom. This form of governmental corruption defines the massive power of the Sinaloa Cartel to control the levers of governmental power through bribes, corruption, and the threat of violence against any individual that gets in Guzman’s