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Mexico Institute in the News: Mexico Drug Lord's Fate is Focus of Election Year Speculation

Eric L. Olson

If Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, the world’s most wanted drug suspect, were to be captured before the Presidential elections, views of current President Calderón would be better, which would in turn help the PAN candidate.

March 12, 2012, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Mexico City — A tantalizing question is spicing up talk shows and opinion columns as Mexican voters prepare to elect a new president: Will the government spring a "June surprise" by finally nabbing Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman?...

...Guzman would be a sweet trophy for President Felipe Calderon, who could use a big score before voters head to the polls July 1...

...The idea that authorities could grab Guzman any time, but don't, strikes some experts as far-fetched.

"The implication is that the United States or Mexico or Calderon has been sitting on the information and waiting for the right moment,"

said Eric Olson, a senior associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

"I don't think that's true."

Read the full article here.

About the Author

Eric L. Olson

Eric L. Olson

Global Fellow;
Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, Seattle International Foundation
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Mexico Institute

The Mexico Institute seeks to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship. A binational Advisory Board, chaired by Luis Téllez and Earl Anthony Wayne, oversees the work of the Mexico Institute.   Read more

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more