It didn’t take long. Hours after drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was captured by Mexican Special Forces, men reported to be his sons took to social media to threaten the Mexican government.
Accounts possibly linked to Alfredo Guzman and Ivan Archivaldo Guzman taunted, warned and insulted the government through several posts on Twitter.
Although there’s no way for CNN to independently verify the postings as authentic, these accounts have been legitimized by Mexican media. Both accounts also have sizable followings of about a quarter-million followers each.
Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was the first to react on his Twitter account. Posting profanity and insults immediately after the news of his father’s recapture.
He was responding to a post by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announcing to the world on Twitter that El Chapo had been captured. “Mission accomplished: We have him. I would like to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzmán Loera has been detained,” Nieto wrote.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman had been on the run for six months after breaking out of a federal maximum security prison using an elaborate underground tunnel in July. It’s the same prison he is being sent back to, Mexican authorities said.
Shortly after, another message surfaced on Ivan Archivaldo Guzman’s account. “You don’t know what you’ve done or the mess you got yourselves into,” it reads, directing a message to the Mexican Special Forces that carried out the raid in which Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Jorge Gastelum Avila, one of his lieutenants, were captured after a shootout that left five of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s associates dead in a predawn raid conducted in Los Mochis, a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was soon joined by his brother, Alfredo Guzman, on Twitter, who provided a chorus of threatening messages, also directed at Mexican security forces. “I can be a saint if you’re dealing fairly with me,” the post reads, “but otherwise I’m poison and the Government will soon know about the Guzmans.”
Later posts suggest that with his father gone, Iván Archivaldo would be in charge. “As my dad says,” a message reads, “If I’m not around, [Ivan Archivaldo Guzman] will be there to be respected so as long as there’s life there’s hope, dudes.”
In the past, the social media accounts of Alfredo Guzman and Ivan Archivaldo Guzman have flaunted the lavish lifestyle of the Mexican drug cartel, showcasing photos of money, women and power. In September, it was believed that one of the son’s shared a photo on Twitter that may have offered a clue of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzamn’s whereabouts after he escaped from federal prison.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán is seen as a Robin Hood figure in the mountains of Sinaloa and Durango, his home turf and center of operations for the Sinaloa Cartel, a vast criminal operation that ships marijuana, cocaine and heroin to the United States Europe and Asia.
The United States Justice Department previously sought Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman extradition to the U.S., and may do so again.
The Department of Justice said Friday it doesn’t comment on pending extradition requests “before they become the subject of public judicial proceedings.”
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is included in at least seven indictments in various U.S. jurisdictions.
