And perhaps that's what the two prison guards at Mexico's Altiplano maximum-security prison were pondering when, instead of guarding the world's most famous drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, they were playing solitaire. While they were immersed in the game, Guzmán slipped out of his cell in July through a hole in the shower, according to a report in Mexico's El Universal newspaper.
A lot has been written since Guzmán tunneled out of jail over the summer, but not much of it has clarified who helped him or how. There have been reports that the tunnel-building wasn't much of a secret in the prison before his escape, that other inmates and guards could hear loud noises as his accomplices cut through the concrete floor of his cell.
The El Universal story, by prominent columnist Carlos Loret de Mora, raises the possibility that garden-variety office ennui might have been a factor. It said Juan Carlos Sánchez Garcia and José Daniel Aureoles Tabares, two agents from the Mexican intelligence service, had initially told investigators that their computer screens froze minutes before Guzmán's escape at 9 p.m. on July 11 and that they made more than two dozen frantic calls when they realized he had disappeared. But a judge in the confidential proceedings has determined that at the time of the escape the two men were playing cards and that other computer screens were turned off, according to the report. It remains unclear whether the inattention was intentional.
One of Guzmán's attorneys, Juan Pablo Badillo, declined to comment about the allegation, as did the attorney general's office, which is investigating the case.
Guzmán's escape, a year after he was imprisoned, was a massive embarrassment for the Mexican government. At least 13 prison officials, including the top official at the Altiplano facility, have been arrested. Guzmán's Sinaloa cartel has been known to buy off public officials at all levels of government to grease the group's drug-trafficking operations. So even if solitaire was involved, that distraction probably was a bit player in this drama.
