MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Panama dismantles drug network linking FARC with Mexican cartel

Panama, Mexico and Colombia worked together on the law-enforcement operation during 18 months, said Panama Security Minister Rodolfo Aguilera

Panamanian officials announced the dismantling of a drug network linking fugitive Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman's Sinaloa cartel and a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, front.

 Panama, Mexico and Colombia worked together on the law-enforcement operation over the past 18 months, Panamanian Security Minister Rodolfo Aguilera and that country's National Police commissioner, Omar Pinzon, told reporters.

A Mexican couple served as Guzman's liaison with representatives of the FARC guerrilla group's 30th Front, who were Panamanian, in the Central American country, according to Pinzon, who did not identify the suspects.

Panamanian authorities have asked Mexico to extradite the couple.

The tri-national operation led to the seizure of more than a half ton of cocaine, as well as vehicles and other items, and the arrest of some 50 suspects in the three countries, Pinzon said.

Aguilera said in a brief statement that the joint effort by the Mexican and Colombian police had led to the “dismantling of a ring proven to have been led by 'El Chapo' Guzman” from the western Mexican state of Sinaloa.

On July 11, Guzman broke out of the Altiplano maximum-security prison in central Mexico through a 1.5-kilometer tunnel dug to his cell.

He had earlier escaped from the Puente Grande penitentiary in the western Mexican state of Jalisco on Jan. 19, 2001, pulling off the Hollywood-style jailbreak by hiding in a cart full of dirty laundry in front of guards.

After that first escape, he evaded authorities for more than 13 years before being recaptured on 22 February 2014.