Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
DURING HIS MONTHS on the run, Mexican drug baron Servando Gomez fled on donkeys and hid in a bat-filled cave – a far cry from his days of showing off in videos and flashing cash in his fiefdom.
The former teacher known as ‘La Tuta’ used to lord over the mountain towns of the western agricultural state of Michoacan, sowing fears among his enemies through his cult-like Knights Templar drug cartel.
The 49-year-old gangster eluded a massive manhunt by hiding in homes or a shack on a ranch, riding horses, donkeys or all-terrain vehicles to move across the rough landscape, authorities said.
With the backing of supporters, Mexico’s most wanted man “was able to go anywhere”, never staying in one place for more than a few days or hours, federal police chief Enrique Galindo said Monday during a media tour of Gomez’s hideouts.
A year after authorities intensified the search for Gomez, federal police grabbed him before dawn last Friday as he left a house in Morelia, the state’s capital, hiding his face behind a scarf and a cap.
Gomez knew the mountains well. He was born there, in the town of Arteaga.
While his cartel cooked crystal meth in makeshift labs on the hills, he nurtured a Robin Hood figure in his region, doling out cash in towns he dominated and denouncing enemies in YouTube videos.
But farmers fed up with his reign of terror formed vigilante forces to combat his cartel and joined the hunt for Gomez.
Before his capture, Gomez had narrowly escaped the authorities in two operations. In one raid, police arrived at the scene only to find half-eaten plates of seafood left by Gomez and the five or eight men who followed him, Galindo said.
Although he often stayed in spartan quarters, Gomez managed to find some comfort in his escape, getting good wine, 18-year-old whiskey and cable television in a simple shack in the Aguililla mountain range.
Gomez navigated between hideouts through dirt roads hidden in lush vegetation, making the police search more difficult despite a 1,000-man contingent in an operation launched in early 2014.
Using helicopters to track him down was risky because the cartel could have easily taken them down with their arsenal of weapons, Galindo said.
Before fleeing into the mountains, Gomez lived with his family near his hometown in Tumbiscatio, where he began his criminal life as the jefe de plaza’, or local gang boss.
But he was forced to flee as the authorities closed in on him, leaving him without food or water, thanks to information from the vigilante forces, Galindo said.
Caught by cake
Gomez ended up in a cave with a steel door that La Tuta had used to jail and punish his enemies between Arteaga and Tumbiscatio.
The damp cave, where he stayed for 15 days, is a muddy tunnel with stalactites, bats and stretches where the ceiling is no more than 1.6-feet high. Bottles of booze and plastic cups were still strewn on the ground when journalists visited the cave.
Four months ago, the authorities believed they had detected Gomez far from the mountains, in the urban state capital Morelia.
Gomez lived in a house with his twenty-something wife Lulu and three children. (He is believed to have fathered 37 children with other women).
Authorities were able to confirm suspicions that he was in Morelia after Lulu brought him a cake for his birthday on 6 February.
Gomez, who once said “I’d rather die than be caught”, was planning to find a new hiding spot with his henchmen when he was captured on Friday, without a shot fired.
Gomez is now back in a dark place: A small cell at the notorious maximum-security El Altiplano prison, under the same roof as other famous fallen drug kingpins.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Great new, and a fantastic opportunity to boost Irelands profile if done right. I am a Dub, but I really really hope these videos (a) Get out of Dublin and showcase greater Ireland (b) do not overtly publicise the Guinness Storehouse – Ireland has more to offer than a tour of a brewery.
Article doesn’t say but the press release indicated that Col Hadfield will be filmed throughout his day and tourism Ireland will make 3 vids of his travels
Col, meant Chris!
If you’re a “DUB” Joanne why does your profile have you down as a “REBEL” (Cork) ?.are you a typical Rebel trying to put the Jackeens down and enforce the Rebel yell that Cork is the “Real Capital” ? I have ya sussed girl ;) Go on the Dubs !!!!!!
But it’s the middle of winter,,the countryside looks bleak at this time of year ,,surely it would be better to do this in summer or autumn ????
I think this man is even cooler than the Pope if that’s possible.
Joanne from Cork, wanna be a Dub…….Dublin is the countries biggest tourist attraction. When tourists think of Ireland most head for the capital first then some travel around the country.
Let him come to galway…
When he did his autistic version of “Ground control to major tom”,he automatically became the most famous astronaut/spaceman that has ever lived in the last 40 yrs.He may never become as famous as Armstrong,Aldrin,Collins or Gagarin,but he really is a legend in his own lifetime.And in all honesty he has single handily made NASA fashionable again,not since they first launched the Shuttle has there been so much interest in space. The man, IMO ,is an inspirational figure and his name should go down in history along with the aforementioned pioneers of space. In other news,his “Tache” is the only one on planet Earth that rivals Dick Spring,Willy O’Dea and Tom Selleck .
Yes I did.damn auto correct lol
Stephen Duggan – the song is actually called Space Oddity. But Chris Hadfield’s video is one of my favourite videos of all time.
Just as you knew what I meant,so did everyone else,stop trying to be so pretentious,although with a name like “Simon” that may be kinda hard.
You’re frightened by the name Simon, that is weird.
Yeah ave d original “SINGLE” of Space Oddicy. Anyone kniw Whats it Worth ?
On a completely different note what’s wrong with Ireland and especially Dublin being associated with Guinness ? One can not walk thru Dublin without being hit with the famous smell of hops and barley roasting,it’s as much a part of Dublin as the White House is to Washington DC. Guinness has been, and still is one of the major supplier’s of jobs not only in Dublin,but Ireland as a whole. We are too quick to knock our own success stories,i.e. Guinness,Ryanair or the likes of Kerrygold food group thru pure ignorance and begrudgery. Guinness is an institution not only in Dublin,but worldwide.If someone famous wants to promote it by being photographed holding a pint of the black stuff,so what ? Lets be f@#!*#@ proud of our success stories and not knock them,build upon the global brand and increase not only awareness and interest in our great country,but jobs,growth and pride as well.
Stephen u obviously have not walked through Dublin recently. Unfortunately, There is no longer a smell of oats n barley. Mind u in Temple Bar you can get a totally different smell !
One of the nicest and most inspiring people on (and sometimes off) the planet.
Legend absolutely love him :)
I would have thought Blackrock observatory would have been a better choice of attraction than the Guinness storehouse. Unless Guinness are sponsoring his visit.
Whatever cute hoor thought about this deserves a slap on the back
Any boost to the tourism sector is a good one, But this Guin*** worshipping is a disgrace, every high profile visitor is frogmarched to advertise an average over rated beverage, an utter disgrace to persist in portraying the county as a nation of people who drink this gunk.
Totally Agree.
Also noticed the gate at Guinness’s along the Quays, featured on their wonderful Xmas tv add, has had the word Guinness painted over and replace with a Diageo aluminium sign. VANDALISM at its best. Suggest Bord Failte get on their case.
I think you’ll find Col. Hadfield has his own opinions on Guinness, and they are not negative ones: his grasp of Irish culture would put many of us to shame.
As others have said, Hadfield’s contribution to space exploration and science may not be made up of heroic firsts, but in its own way it is as immense as those of Gagarin, Tereshkova, Glenn and Ride in making people realise, *really* realise, that real funny, clever, personable humans are now living off-world and we are only going onwards from there.
Thanks Chris.
Make him paddys day grand marshall
Great Idea Lesley.
Would b definately better than a spacer from Dail Eireann.
Love that man , he’s a legend
Re. “So, we know now he’s a little rusty on his plurals as Gaeilge”
I get so sick of this. Truly.
I may be wrong but I suspect he has written more Irish than the writer of this article did in the last year and he has certainly done far more for the language. Please, I beg you, resist the urge to correct people and show that you know more than they do. Seriously. It’s petty and does damage to those who would like to learn the language. People are terrified to write or say anything because they know the Irish press will be on their case like a ton of bricks.
Consider the case of Glen Hansard who won an Oscar and choose as his first words at the ceremony, “Go raibh míle maith agat.”
You would think that should have been met with pride and gratitude for his using this historic moment to let people know we have our own language and are proud to use it. What a moment of delight. But no. The headlines ran that he has used the singular form instead of the plural form. Who cares?!! That nitpicking missed the point and spirit of the moment and I contend that it is OK to use the singular form to address a group. Either way, give the man credit for what he did.
I am thrilled we have Cmdt. Hadfield as our new ambassador. I am more than thrilled he promoted our language from space. I am over the moon (forgive me) that he is making such a commitment to telling people about the best of Ireland. Please, I beg you, do not drag him down and other Irish language learners down by focusing on unimportant details. It does far more harm than you realize.
I blame the teachers you overused red pen and who corrected us far more than they praised us. I admit I was often guilty of the same offense that you are guilty of here. Tagann ciall le h-aois.
But let’s be positive and remember, ‘Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí’ because we are all young at heart.
Déarfainn nach bhfeicfidh tú tagairt don bhotún beag sin sna nuachtáin as Gaeilge mar
1. ní fiú tagairt a dhéanamh dó
2. tá sé drochbhéasach mar ba chóir dúinn bheith buíoch as an rud a rinne sé agus
3. tuigeann siad go ndéanann rud mar sin damáiste.
Cumarsáid #1 i ngach teanga.
Brón orm má tá mé dian ort anseo ach tá an pointe seo an-tábhachtach go deo.
Buíochas as an chuid eile den scéal faoi.Go n-éirí leat.
I once locked myself in a Soyuz capsule that was being prepared for static display in a museum. I let the hatch close and it wouldn’t open from the inside. It was late on a Friday evening. I was sitting there tapping on the inside of the capsule when a technician–the last person to leave the museum for the weekend–heard me. He let me out. If he hadn’t heard me, I probably would have used up all the oxygen in the capsule over the next two days.
That’s my space capsule story. It has nothing to do with the Mars story, but I felt compelled to tell it.
@ Stephen Carrick,it’s a small world me aul flower,how’s you and all yours ?
Disney Grange first stop.?
have your say