New footage of El Chapo’s first hours in captivity reveals notorious drug lord insisting his cartel would not rescue him out of prison

Newly released footage shows the first hours of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s captivity — including the notorious drug lord washing his face, being questioned by Mexican authorities and insisting his cartel would not launch a rescue operation to free him.

Mexican newspaper El Universal published four edited videos showing Guzmán shortly after he and his bodyguard, Orso Iván “El Cholo Iván” Gastelum, were captured after emerging from a manhole in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, on Jan. 8, 2016.

In one video, El Chapo could be heard asking for soap before a police officer placed his hands under a dispenser.

A Mexican newspaper this week released three never-before-seen videos of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán after he was captured on Jan. 8. 2016. Aristegui Noticias/Youtube

He then asks the cop, “It won’t bother my eyes?”

“It’s better not to get it in your eyes,” the police officer replied, before telling him he had permission to remove his mud-soaked tank top.

The footage offers a rare glimpse of the feared cartel boss in the immediate aftermath of his capture — and before his eventual extradition to the US.

Fearing that Sinaloa Cartel members would attempt to track them down, the cops brought El Chapo and Gastelum to a hotel while waiting for backup to arrive before transporting them to a military hangar in Mexico City.

In a second video, a haggard and handcuffed El Chapo could be seen sitting in the back of a vehicle and responding, “No,” when asked if they had mistreated him.

Once in Mexico City, El Chapo was grilled by the military and admitted to “dedicating myself to growing marijuana, trafficking since I was young, but not stealing,” according to the footage.

Most strikingly in a third video, the Sinaloa Cartel co-founder assured the military that his squad of assassins had been warned not to launch a rescue operation in the event he was captured.


Drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escorted by Mexican Marines after his recapture.
Drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is escorted into a helicopter on Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, at Mexico City’s airport. Guzmán was recaptured by Mexican marines six months after his prison break. (AFP) AFP via Getty Images

“It is not convenient for me that people fight with the government,” El Chapo said.

“I have told them — this has an end, if one day I fail, I don’t want them to fight with any police, not at all. No, there will be no war, not at all. I am sure that there will be no war.”

El Chapo’s line of thinking stood in stark contrast to the tactics his criminal organization employed Oct. 17, 2019, when cartel members set roadblocks, burned vehicles and carried out a war-like assault to secure the release of his son.

Ovidio Guzmán López was briefly detained at his home in Culiacán, Sinaloa as part of a US extradition request before then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered his release.

In a fourth video, El Chapo and Gastelum could be seen sitting in an airplane with their heads covered.

El Chapo was extradited to US on Jan. 19, 2017 and was convicted by a federal court in Brooklyn on Feb. 12, 2019. He was sentenced to life in prison and is currently being held at ADX Florence — a supermaximum security penitentiary in Florence, Colorado.

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