Next installment in the DEA Museum’s lecture series

San Diego CA— The Drug Enforcement Administration Museum presents its next lecture ‘Taking Down El Chapo’ on Wednesday, March 17th, 10-11:30 a.m. EDT. The event is streaming live from the DEA HQ Auditorium with free reserved tickets. Streaming link will be emailed to all ticket holders. Also Streaming on YouTube and www.deamuseum.org.
The event is being hosted by DEA staff; moderated by Josh Edmundson, Curator of Education for the DEA Museum, with a panel of DEA agents who participated in the operation.
Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, commonly known as “El Chapo” (shorty in English) founded the Sinaloa cartel in 1980 and smuggled hundreds of tons of illicit drugs into the U.S. for decades until his final capture in 2017. His ruthless career left scores dead in his wake, and he raked up a fortune worth at least 12 billion dollars along the way.
Guzmán escaped from maximum security Mexican prisons in 2001 and 2015. He maintained his grip on power and evaded law enforcement for years through savage murders by his sicario (hit men), extortion, and corruption that notoriously involved the complicity of many Mexican authorities at all levels. He was once named by Forbes Magazine as one of the most powerful people in the world, and his long criminal career only came to an end after a multi-year joint investigation and pursuit by Mexican authorities, DEA, and other U.S. authorities.
In this installment of the DEA Museum & Visitor’s Center lecture series, the panelists will discuss what it was like to be there during the pursuit of El Chapo, and their contributions to the capture of this notorious figure. Sign language interpreters will be available for this presentation.
The Drug Enforcement Administration Museum produces a series of educational lectures annually. The lecture series is designed to inform and educate the public in matters related to the mission of DEA and the DEA Museum & Visitors Center. Lecture topics include drug trends, science and forensics, collection objects, the exploits and accomplishments of the men and women of DEA, and more. For more information, go to www.deamuseum.gov/lecture-series.