Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the world's most powerful drug lord has been killed during a gun battle. Yahoo News reports that he died during a shoot out between drug gangs, authorities are saying.
"El Chapo" was the head of the Sinaloa cartel and his body is thought to be found in the remote area of Peten, Guatemala. It is not confirmed as of yet but residents in the area who witnessed the fight told authorities that one of the men who died resembled him.
"Joaquín Archivaldo Guzman Loera, also known as 'Shorty Guzman' because of his 5ft6in height, is one of America's most wanted criminals," reported Yahoo News.
Yahoo News reported that he was given the title as Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1 which is a title that no criminal has received since Al Capone.
Not since the Chicago Crime Commission's first Public Enemy No. 1 has any criminal deserved this title more than Joaquín Guzman," said JR Davis president of the Chicago Crime Commission according to Yahoo News.
The U.S. has put a $5million reward for information leading to his capture and he has been in hiding since 2001 after escaping from a Mexican prison in a laundry cart.
Authorities still need to confirm that the body belongs to him. "We have to wait for all the technical information in order to determine if, in fact, one of the dead is of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman," Government spokesman Francisco Cuevas told Guatevision Television.
Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla said to local media that government planes were flying over the scene to see what they could find. Officials said to the AP that they have not yet found any bodies or even 100 percent confirmed that a shootout occurred as they have only received reports from local people.
"But Interior Department spokeswoman Carla Herrera told The Associated Press that one of the victims physically resembled the drug lord. She said officials had asked the Mexican government to send Guzman's fingerprints to compare them to the man found inside a vehicle and to send investigators," reported the AP.
As officials search for answers Bonilla said they still don't have an answer. "The fact is we don't have any of this information confirmed," Lopez Bonilla Added to the AP.
President Enrique Pena Nieto said to reporters that he also had no information on the case.
"I don't have any information that can confirm that," he said to reporters.
Forbes magazine reported that "El Chapo" has an estimated $1 billion forture.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
