Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Copyright: 2015 Hearst Communications Inc. Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1 Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388 ESCAPED AGAIN In recent years, Mexican leaders have promised that improved security forces and a tougher focus will curb drug cartels that have killed thousands and flooded the U.S. with lethal imports. Now the prison tunnel escape of a drug lord erases that image. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman made it look comically easy. Allies dug a nearly mile-long tunnel equipped with lights, ventilation and a motorcycle on rails to free the Sinaloa Cartel head from a maximum security lockup. He slipped down a hatch in his shower floor and escaped, whisked away by a helicopter waiting at the tunnel's far end. The planning and subterfuge are one thing. But the larger message is that Mexico's latest drug crackdown is a bust, pulled down by incompetence and corruption. An ally that Washington needs in stemming drugs, gangs and violence is too weak to count on. The escape is a huge embarrassment for President Enrique Pena Nieto, who proudly announced the drug trafficker's arrest last year. It adds to the president's image as lofty policymaker unable to carry out reforms at the local level, whether it's the disappearance of student-teachers or the breakout of a billionaire drug outlaw. Pride and national sovereignty led Mexican officials to rebuff earlier U.S. requests for Guzman's extradition. Trust between law enforcement agencies can only worsen at a time when heroin deaths are rising in the U.S. Mexico could experience an explosion of violence if Guzman seeks to restart turf wars with other gangs controlling drug routes northward. Some 60,000 lost their lives over the past decade in the crossfire. Pictures allegedly taken of Guzman in the cockpit of an aircraft and relaxing with friends have already surfaced since his escape. It's a taunting reminder of his elusiveness and power, just like his tunnel exit. It's also a message to both Mexico - and the U.S. - of the brazenness and power of a ruthless drug kingpin. If he is recaptured, Mexico must not resist the chance to extradite him to its northern neighbor that has the will and the facilities to keep him locked up. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom