New videos reveal El Chapo's early detention moments and his refusal of a cartel rescue

Mexican outlet El Universal released four edited videos that capture the first hours of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s detention after his January 8, 2016 capture in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, alongside bodyguard Orso Iván “El Cholo Iván” Gastelum. The footage shows the drug lord washing his face, requesting soap, and being allowed to remove his mud-soaked shirt by a police officer. Later, handcuffed and seated in a vehicle, he answers “No” when asked if he was mistreated, and during a military interrogation in Mexico City he admits to a lifelong involvement in marijuana trafficking but denies stealing.

Most strikingly, he tells the soldiers that his Sinaloa Cartel co-founders have been instructed not to mount a rescue operation, emphasizing that a conflict with the government would be undesirable. Authorities kept the pair in a hotel before transporting them to a military hangar, and El Chapo was eventually extradited to the U.S. on January 19, 2017, later sentenced to life imprisonment at ADX Florence in Colorado.