Mexico City, July 13 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Several lawmakers in Mexico are demanding the resignation of the country’s interior minister, Jose Angel Osorio Chong, saying he is to blame for the escape of top drug kingpin Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.
Senate President Miguel Barbosa said he will ask the Bicameral Commission on National Security to call on Osorio Chong to testify before the lawmakers in order to explain the details of the cartel boss’ escape.
Guzman escaped from a maximum security prison on Saturday, making it the second time he has broken out of a Mexican jail. Authorities say he stepped into a shower and fled through an elaborate, man-made tunnel.
Barbosa called the escape an act of “corruption at the highest level,” adding that the spectacular escape is evidence of the penetration of organized crime into government structures.
President Enrique Peña Nieto has already asked senators and Osorio Chong to launch an investigation in all the country's security institutions to determine whether any officials were involved in the escape.
Guzman was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and then extradited to Mexico where he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking. El Chapo escaped from a maximum security prison with the assistance of prison guards in 2001, but was captured in February 2014.
Guzman, the head of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, is considered one of the world’s most dangerous drug trafficker. His escape is the latest blow to the administration of Peña Nieto, which has been hit by numerous corruption and human rights scandals.
