The capture of El Chapo is a farce. There is so much corruption in Mexico, the drug lord does whatever he wants to.
Dorri Olds interviewed the writer and director of the documentary, “Drug Lord: The Legend of Shorty.” Angus Macqueen and his partner, cameraman and co-director Guillermo Galdos, went after the most successful drug lord in history, Joaquin Guzman. “El Chapo” (“Shorty”), his nickname from childhood, is the head of the Sinaloa cartel.
Forbes consistently lists him as one of the richest men in the world referring to him as a CEO. In the film we hear DEA Special Ops Michael Waldrop say that Shorty runs his drug empire like a corporation. “It’s no different than a Home Depot or a Walmart.” This all-powerful man — all 5’6” of him — has evaded capture since his prison escape in 2001.
We watch as the cartel’s worker bees package marijuana into packages the size of bales of hay, while higher ups traffic drugs through tunnels, and fly heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine ingredients to the U.S. and anywhere else there is a demand for it. We’re talking millions and millions of dollars worth of illegal substances.
The two filmmakers wondered why this dangerous murderer that rules Mexico has not been caught for 13 years. Chicago has named Guzman “Public Enemy Number 1.” Mexico and the U.S. say they can’t catch him. To prove that the DEA’s manhunt and Mexico’s search is all a sham, these two filmmakers venture out on a potentially fatal mission — to find El Chapo themselves. And they do. Strangely though, right before their Official Selection film premieres at SXSW, Guzman is captured by the police.
Dorri Olds: What drove you and Guillermo Galdos to put yourselves in danger? Why was making this film more important than your safety?
Angus Macqueen: [Laughs] It was never more important than our safety. Both Guillermo and I have worked in this area for a long time. It’s a funny thing. If you make the right contacts in the right way you can minimize the danger. But, looking back, we did do some extraordinary things and we were in extraordinary places. I think the bet was — and it proved, thank God, correct — that foreign filmmakers, especially ones who look like me, a British gringo with blond hair, if they didn’t want us they would frighten the daylights out of us and tell us to bugger off. If they invited us, which they did, and he [Guzman] did directly, then there was safety. The danger was usually at the bits in between. Actually, the single most dangerous trip was when we went to the mausoleum of [Guzman’s] son and his wife got upset. That was genuinely a scary day. I think it’s a big and important subject and we wanted to prove something, which I think we did. I hope we did.
In the movie, “Goodfellas,” remember how they were all sitting around in jail, cooking and laughing and enjoying themselves? Do you think El Chapo receives preferential treatment like that whenever he is incarcerated?
Yes. In the film we show that after his 1993 arrest he ran that prison. Is it the same now? People say yes. I can’t tell you for sure because I have not personally seen that but most people assume he is very comfortable where he is. He has plenty of money to pay for what he needs and leverage because he can terrify people. This isn’t some cuddly man. He’s absolutely got the ability to terrify anybody. Guards are not going to give him a hard time.
Can you describe how it felt to see dead bodies in Mexico?
If you want to know the truth, death smells. You want to go wash, take a shower afterwards. Death is horrendous. Remember in the film, the pilot is driving? Then he points at a body and says, “He’s guilty. Nobody is innocent here.” I don’t go around with that level of ease with it. The first time I ever came across a dead body it was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That body we discovered because of the smell. It turned out that it had been out in the sun for two days. Oddly, it’s less the thought of death that makes you feel physically ill. It’s the smell.
Click here for part II of this interview.
Click here for part III of this interview.
