MEXICANS QUESTION ESCAPE OF DRUG LORD

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 24 -- Pizza and women. Drives in the country whenever the
mood strikes. Guards on the payroll. A decent wine list, whites properly
chilled in contraband ice. What more could a murderous drug lord ask from
his maximum security prison?

But apparently that was not enough for Joaquin Guzman, a violent little
brick of a man known as "El Chapo," who left it all behind last weekend.
The reputed former head of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel reportedly
paid millions in bribes to guards, and maybe the warden, and rode out of
the maximum security Puente Grande prison hidden in a laundry truck. In his
wake, Guzman, who had been incarcerated since 1993 on a 20-year sentence
for drug trafficking, left a slew of nagging and embarrassing questions,
mainly this: Is Mexico really so utterly and hopelessly corrupt that one of
the country's most notorious convicts could live like a king in jail, then
just walk away?

"All the prison bars and millions of pesos spent on security systems are
useless if prisoners leave through the door," said Jorge Tello Peon, the
country's chief of public security. "What happened . . . is proof of the
capacity of corruption, or rather structural corrosion, of national
institutions by organized crime, particularly drug traffickers."

Guzman's spectacular escape has triggered a national soul-searching about
the depth of corruption within law enforcement agencies and the best way to
clean it up. President Vicente Fox has renewed his vow to crack down on
drug traffickers, promising more extraditions to the United States and
tougher prison conditions in Mexico. Fox has said he wants to end a culture
in which drug traffickers can buy their way out of prosecution, and those
unlucky enough to go to prison "live like masters."

In a speech today in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa, Fox vowed to redouble
his efforts to curb drug traffickers and all forms of organized crime.
"Today I reaffirm our war without mercy against the pernicious criminal
mafias," he said.

Fox pledged a "great reform" against crime "so every family can sleep
peacefully, so we all can live without fear of going out into the street,
without assaults or humiliation, without the fear of losing everything at
the hands of the criminals."

Fox didn't offer any specifics of his plan, but said he believed "public
insecurity" could only be cured by a two-pronged approach against criminals
and against the poverty and despair that can lead to crime.

Guzman's escape came a week after Fox's government ordered an investigation
of corruption at the prison and the Mexican Supreme Court issued a ruling
clearing the way for more extraditions to the United States. Guzman, who is
wanted in the United States on drug charges, also fled on the day he was
reportedly scheduled to have been moved to a higher security area of the
prison, located in the city of Guadalajara.

Whether the timing was a coincidence, or a decision by Guzman and his
colleagues that things were getting too hot for comfort, is unclear.
Interior Minister Santiago Creel, the country's top security official, told
reporters he believed "we're seeing some reaction precisely to the progress
we've made in the last few weeks."

Clearly, however, Guzman's case, the arrest of the prison warden and the
questioning of 33 guards suggest how deep corruption runs. And this week's
all-out manhunt to rearrest Guzman is an attempt by Fox's government to
disabuse the country's worst fears about the government's impotence in the
face of rich and powerful drug traffickers.

As hundreds of officers searched for Guzman, human rights officials
described Mexico's lax prison conditions and the ability of rich inmates to
buy whatever they wanted -- from illegal drugs to their freedom. They said
the problem has existed for years and was ignored by the government.

"We know that the structure of public security in this country is sick from
top to bottom," said Marti Batres Guadarrama, a member of Congress.