El Chapo Trial: The 11 Biggest Revelations From the Case

The ironic tragedy is that even while one cockroach is being tried -- before which and during which the US is spending who knows how much money -- the drug business continues apace with new kingpins taking over the lucrative market left open.

The article should be titled the "11 Biggest Revelations for the US Media and Uninformed American Public". No one else is really shocked. Most Mexican's that I have spoke too already knew this and more. Nothing was a surprise. A good example would be the corruption even at the Presidential level. Politicians in Mexico are not even ashamed to deny the obvious. Everyone knows where Enrique Peña Nieto's wife's $5M house came from. Money to buy this house certainly didn't come from his government salary. The shocker is also the uninformed American public of the hyper-ISIS-like violence that is going on in Mexico with most of the country sharing a "NO GO!" status with Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. We tend to focus so much on people coming across this border and the sensationalism of some information in this trial but not the lawlessness and violence coming from the drug gangs. How long until we consider Mexico a failed state?

One takeaway that isn’t mentioned, is the judge refused to allow witnesses to testify about payments made to American officials, ruling that it would “substantially embarrass” people out of the purview of the case. They should be embarrassed. US is just as corrupt as Mexico, but they are better at hiding it here.

Based on media reports, despite El Chapo's incarceration for the past two years, the level of drugs coming in to the US has not declined. His role has been filled with ambitious subordinates, which is inevitable so long as the demand for drugs exists. It must be frustrating to work for the DEA when you look at the big picture. On the other hand, there is no chance of being furloughed.

The El Chapo story told through the trial has been an edifying and discouraging epic. Corruption more pervasive than even many cynics believed. I only hope that the El Sacklo trial next exposes the bribes, oops, I mean donations, from El Sacklo and Perdue Pharmacia to US politicians, lobbyists and "consultants." The mostly unconscious complicity of narcotics users is doubly tragic.

"Mr. Guzmán’s drugs came into Mexico and later the United States on fishing boats and trains, helicopters and planes, semi-submersible and tanker ships, shoe boxes and chili cans." I wonder how many "fishing boats and trains, helicopters and planes, semi-submersible and tanker ships" would be stopped by Trump's wall? Just askin'

This stuff just keeps getting better and better.

This makes one wonder how much Mr. Trump is being paid by the Mexican drug cartels to focus attention on building a wall instead of developing effective ways of interdicting the drug traffic. He obviously needs the money.

And all of this because of the "war on drugs". El Chapo would be nothing without his U.S. customers. Legalize, regulate, and tax drugs. Educate our citizens on the dangers of using them. Recreational drugs should not be criminalized. Of course there will be problems with legalizing drugs! But will they be greater than the problems of prohibition, with our jails filled and users dying on the streets? Will they be greater than the problem of having democracy subverted and corrupted in many countries? The fact that not a single Mexican law enforcement official participated in this trial indicates the folly of the current approach. Prohibition of alcohol did not solve the problems associated with alcohol. Similarly, the prohibition of drugs is a failure. It is costing us a fortune in resources, in lives and in money. It is sad, wasteful, and unnecessary.

Nothing has killed more people, ruined more families, made ordinary people into criminals and criminals into millionaires than the US war on drugs. The war on drugs has killed many more people than the drugs themselves. it's insanity. Clearly the most dangerous drug in the US is alcohol. According to the CDC 85,000 Americans die every year from accidents and disease, yet you can buy alcohol at every gas station in California. Our jails are filled with people arrested for having a small amount of pot and the death toll from pot, again according to the CDC, is ZERO. Z E R O !!!! It's insane! And of course there's the issue that's it's none of the government's business what I put into MY OWN BODY. It's legal for me to shoot up bleach if I want to but the government makes it its business (and it's a huge business) to intrude on people's desires and anything it doesn't approve of will send you to prison. It's not right and full of corruption and immorality.

So by art of magic the drug was distributed throughout the US, not a single mention of the corruption and political allies needed to distribute the drugs in order to make them available to the poor and innocent people of the USA. Yes, corruption in Mexico stinks, and is a stigma that the majority of hard working, people loving Mexicans will have to overcome over the years, nevertheless, we are ashamed of it because we know it exists. The people from the USA, are really so innocent and naive to think there is no corruption in your security and political systems? To whom did El Chapo sold the drugs?, if you do not recognize your corruption tragedy and address the problem you deny there will be more drug lords from all around the world supplying the stuff you so eagerly desire.

The hypocrisy is staggering. Cocaine use has been rampant since the 19th Century, endlessly glamorized by the entertainment industry and for most users just a weekend treat, but...war on drugs and other ridiculous cat fights between cokehead USA and its dealers

"nearly every level of Mexican government was implicated in bribes, including the presidency." With so much money available...it is naïve to think that some of the US law enforcement and government is NOT affected as well. One needs only to consider how much influence lobbyists have in the US thru campaign "donations" (aka bribes).

The wide variety of transportation methods is staggering. It seems that spending more money on the Coast Guard instead of the wall would be a more effective use of our tax dollars.

The bigger issue is why our democratically elected governments maintain and protect dark havens for illegal monies, places like Delaware, Nevada, the Bahamas, Cyprus, and Panama? Putin could have $Billions right next to our nation's capital, in a Shell Corporation, in Delaware. Without money laundering and safe havens the drug trade would largely dry up, except for the likes of politically protected Purdue Pharmaceuticals.

This El Chapo trial and the Mueller investigation highlight all the inquiries that law enforcement has skipped, delayed or let slide. The depth and breadth of corruption is startling. One wonders why it took so long to come to a denouement. Is law enforcement asleep at the switch, degraded by under funding, lets nominal infractions slide till the case gets bigger? In the meantime social and economic injustice accumulates. Like terrorism should law enforcement catch the perpetrators or prevent the crimes. Why not both.