El Chapo's Son: Kidnapped in Puerta Vallarta or Not?

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Tue Aug 16, 2016 at 10:08:59 PM EST
Tags: El Chapo (all tags)

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It's amazing how bad some news reports are. They just publish without fact-checking. Memo to the AP, AFP and Australia News and other news outlets: This photo is not Alfredo Guzman-Salazar or any son of El Chapo. It's a nobody 23 year old used car salesman named Felix Beltran Leon that police mistook for Alfredo in 2012

The stocky, baby-faced suspect had been presented as the son of Guzman, the chief of the Sinaloa Cartel, and a Navy official described him as a rising operator in the international drug trafficking organization. But Beltran Leon's wife, Karla Pacheco, said he is the father of a toddler and works with his mother-in-law at a used car dealership.

The Attorney General's Office said that "necessary tests" had proved that he wasn't the drug lord's son, but said he would remain under investigation for the guns and money found during his arrest.

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How did the Mexican government blow it so badly in 2012? According to the Mexican Attorney General, they relied on information from the U.S. The DEA says it relied on information from Mexico.

Back to Puerto Vallarta: Yesterday officials in Jalisco (state where Puerta Vallarta is located) said 16 people were kidnapped, including "presumably" El Chapo's son Ivan Guzman-Salazar. Today at a press conference, Jalisco officials say it was El Chapo's son Alfredo Guzman-Salazar who was kidnapped. The New York Times reports at the press conference the police said the identification of Alfredo was based on forensics and evidence found in the cars left behind (including phony IDs) and security footage.

Mexico hints that Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (