Page 30 - MIN JUS
P. 30
WORLD NEWS A11
Monday 21 March 2016
AP Exclusive: Drug
lord gains weight,
reads books in prison
BY MARK STEVENSON a spate of complaints by In this Jan. 8, 2016, file photo, Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by army
E. EDUARDO CASTILLO Guzman’s lawyers and rel- soldiers to a waiting helicopter, at a federal hangar in Mexico City.
Associated Press atives who said his health
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Drug was suffering in prison and Associated Press
lord Joaquin “El Chapo” that he couldn’t sleep.
Guzman is getting some Before he escaped, Guz- that Guzman may have
self-help advice and gain- man was allowed a four- just been infatuated with
ing a bit of weight in prison hour conjugal visit every her, or the drug-trafficking
under his new, tighter-se- nine days. In addition, the character she played in a
curity regime, but Mexico’s officials said, he was sup- TV series, Teresa Mendoza.
formerly most wanted man plied with Viagra. “He probably had a crush
is apparently not doing But Guzman hasn’t been on Teresa Mendoza,” Del
so well in the love depart- given Viagra since he was Castillo told Diane Sawyer.
ment. recaptured and returned “I think he was never inter-
Guzman, who tunneled out to the prison on Jan. 8. Nor ested in the movie.”
of the same prison last July, has he received any con- Prosecutors later said her
now has two guards stand- jugal visits. He only applied contacts with Guzman,
ing outside his cell watch- for permission to renew and the October 2015
ing him every minute of the them this week. meeting with Guzman and
day. There is a dog whose The officials said Guzman American actor Sean Penn
only job is to test his food has gained a small amount in a remote area of north-
before he eats it to make of weight and lowered his eastern Mexico, helped
sure it’s not poisoned. He blood pressure since he lead them to eventually
no longer has a television, was taken back to the Al- recapturing the drug lord.
but gets free reading ma- tiplano prison west of Mex- A chain of leaked emails
terial. ico City. between Guzman and Del
Since he was recaptured in He is under constant ob- Castillo suggest authorities
January, Guzman has read servation from a ceiling- were monitoring their text
the classic “Don Quijote,” mounted camera which conversations.
and has now started a — unlike the one in the cell Del Castillo said she didn’t
Spanish-language transla- from which he escaped — know she was under sur-
tion of “The Purpose Driven has no blind spots. veillance.
Life: What on Earth Am I Guzman’s associates tun- “No, to be honest I didn’t
Here for?” by Rick Warren, neled him out of prison think about it,” she said.
a California-based evan- through the thin concrete “I thought he (Guzman)
gelical pastor. The self-help floor of his shower stall last knew what he was doing
book contains quotes that July in a spot which surveil- by texting.”q
might pertain to Guzman, lance cameras were not
like “A pretentious, showy designed to reach.
life is an empty life; a plain The floors of the prison’s
and simple life is a full life.” top-security cells have
And “We are products since been reinforced with
of our past, but we don’t a 16-inch (40-centimeter)
have to be prisoners of it.” bed of concrete with a
The description of his post- double layer of rebar.
escape prison life comes During his most recent time
from a federal official who on the run, Guzman met
was not authorized to be with Mexican actress Kate
quoted by name under of- del Castillo, purportedly to
ficial policy. The official and discuss a project to docu-
a colleague granted the ment his life in a movie.
exclusive interview to The But Del Castillo said in inter-
Associated Press following view with ABC aired Friday
