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A Knack for Business: Mexico Launches Drug Tours After El Chapo’s Arrest

© AFP 2023 / RONALDO SCHEMIDT A costume and a mask representing Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka "El Chapo", are pictured in a factory of costumes and masks, on October 16, 2015, in Jiutepec, Morelos State
A costume and a mask representing Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka El Chapo, are pictured in a factory of costumes and masks, on October 16, 2015, in Jiutepec, Morelos State - Sputnik International
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After drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was captured and placed into custody again residents of the Mexican state of Sinaloa came up with an idea on how to increase tourism revenues.

They have started organizing tours of key places of Guzman’s biography, El Universal reported.

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Culiacan and Mazatlan are the key destinations of the coming drug tours. According to Argentine newspaper Infobae, amid the recent development around El Chapo the number of tourists visiting the Miramar condominiums where he was captured in 2014 has grown by 15 percent.

Tours are mainly organized by local taxi drivers, for an average price of $20. Among other popular destinations are the statue of Jesus Malverde, the protector of drug traffickers, and the Jardines de Humaya graveyard. The last is known for its sumptuous mausoleums, with bejeweled headstones, an air conditioning system and a phone line.

Some years ago, similar tours were organized in Colombia and Argentina, as a result of important events around the drug trafficking business and growing interest in such persons as Pablo Escobar.

A poster at a stall in the Santo Domingo Savio shantytown in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia advertises a theme album about the life of late drug lord Pablo Escobar. (File) - Sputnik International
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Leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel Joaquin Guzman Loera was captured in early-January in Mexico, after breaking free from prison in July 2014. The arrest was confirmed by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto through Twitter.

Authorities have been hunting the drug czar ever since he escaped from a maximum-security prison seven months ago. In October, a tense shootout occurred in Durango, but El Chapo escaped. US Attorney General Eric Holder commented on the event, calling the arrest a "landmark victory, and a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the US."

Guzman also escaped in 2001. While the cartel has been linked to thousands of killings in Mexico, El Chapo has earned a reputation as a Robin Hood-like figure for spending much of his money on community projects. In 2011, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stated that El Chapo had surpassed the influence and reach of Pablo Escobar, calling him "the godfather of the drug world."

Last week, Nieto announced that Mexico is speeding up the process to extradite the notorious drug lord to the US.

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