El Chapo 'Places' Wreaths on Graves in a Sinaloan Cemetery

The Gardens of Humaya in Culiacan are better known for the many infamous drug traffickers buried there. | Photo: AFP

Published 4 November 2015

Wreaths apparently placed by Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman appeared on three graves in a cemetery in Culiacan, near his stronghold.

Mexican fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman allegedly placed at least three huge wreaths in as many graves in a cemetery in Culiacan, the capital of the northwestern state of Sinaloa, where many infamous drug traffickers are buried, according to various news reports.

Nobody knows who placed the wreaths or when. Reports say the flower arrangements appeared the morning of Nov. 2, the Day of the Dead in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

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One of the wreaths was placed on Rosaldo Loera's luxurious mausoleum at the cemetery Jardines del Humaya and it had a sign on it that read, “From: Joaquin Guzman Loera, To My Uncle Rosaldo Loera,” according to local newspaper El Noroeste.

Another of Guzman's alleged wreaths was placed on Ricardo Arellano's less ostentatious grave and the sign read, “From Joaquin Guzman Loera to Perrillo.”

There is no information regarding who Perrillo is other than news reports that he was shot dead Oct. 24 by two armed men who stormed into a body shop near in Culiacan.

According to news website Narcoviolencia, the third wreath was placed on Manuel Torres's grave. This powerful Sinaloan drug trafficker was gunned down in Oct. 2012 in a shootout with the Mexican army.

The cemetery is less than an hour away from Jesus María, where the mountainous region that Guzman controls begins and where he was said to be hiding out since he escaped through a mile-lon tunnel from a maximum security jail for a second time on July 11.

In early October, the Mexican Secretary of the Navy said special forces had almost recaptured El Chapo twice, including once when he was spotted on foot in Cosala. He, however, managed to escape on foot despite allegedly injuring one of his legs.

There are many infamous drug traffickers buried in Jardines (Gardens) del Humaya, including Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel, father of El Chapo's most recent wife, Emma Coronel. Nacho was gunned down in 2010 in a shootout with the army.

Arturo “El Barbas” Leyva Beltran, one of the feared Beltran Leyva brothers, is also at that cemetery. He also died in an armed confrontation, although in his case it was against Mexican marines who were attempting to detain him December 2009 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, about 30 miles south of Mexico City.