The $100 Million Bribe: Notorious Drug Trafficker to Former President of Mexico

A former assistant of Joaquín Guzmán, known as El Chapo, one of the largest drug traffickers in Mexico, testified in a U.S. court on Tuesday that El Chapo paid $100 million in bribes to the former president of Mexico. According to Reuters, Alex Cifuentes, who identified himself as El Chapo's 'right-hand man,' confirmed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, that he reported the bribery to the former president of Mexico in 2016. Reuters states that after the news broke, attempts were made to contact Enrique Peña Nieto, the former president of Mexico, but they were unsuccessful. Peña Nieto had previously denied reports of receiving bribes. He served as the president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. Guzmán is the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico, which is referred to as one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the world. His trial began in November of last year. Joaquín Guzmán, 61, was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 to face charges of trafficking cocaine, heroin, and other drugs in the U.S. Alex Cifuentes also told the court that Enrique Peña Nieto initially requested a $250 million bribe, which was paid in October 2012, when Peña Nieto had just been elected and had not yet taken office. Joaquín Guzmán had escaped from prison once in 2001 but was re-arrested a decade later. El Chapo also managed to escape from prison again in 2015. Born in Sinaloa, it is said that the drug cartel under his leadership established its position in the bloody battles with other drug cartels in Mexico during the 1990s. According to U.S. officials, the El Chapo cartel smuggled 200 tons of cocaine into the United States between 1990 and 2008.