Watch CCTV footage of drug lord 'El Chapo' disappearing from his Mexican jail cell

CCTV captured the moment Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped from jail
(Image credit: Reuters/YouTube)

On Tuesday, Mexican authorities showed closed-circuit video of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman walking to a partition in his prison cell last Saturday night and disappearing. The partition, one of two blind spots in Guzman's cell, was designed to give him privacy from the waist down while he showered. It also hid from the cameras the 20-inch-square entrance to the sophisticated tunnel Guzman used to escape from the maximum security Altiplano prison.

"He changed his shoes, and went to the shower," explained Mexican National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido, narrating the footage. "You can't see what he's doing." Mexico has fired the warden of the Altiplano prison and the head of all Mexican correctional facilities, and is questioning more than 30 guards. This was Guzman's second escape from a Mexican maximum security prison. Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.