LOVE NEST MONSTER
A drug lord. A ’sex motel.’ A pin-up. Deconstructing an instant classic photograph. In the Frame,
The world’s most wanted drug lord was captured by Mexican authorities on Jan. 8, six months after he escaped prison through an elaborate tunnel. After a shootout at a safe house, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested trying to flee. He was taken by authorities to a motel on the outskirts of Los Mochis, where this photo was taken, for a short stopover.
1. Not so smug: “El Chapo” has a history of escape and recapture. He exited prison in a laundry cart in 2001, was captured at a resort in 2014 and sent back to prison, where he was held until last July, when he tunnelled out. Angus Macqueen, who produced a documentary on Guzman in 2014, writes that this feels different, based on the photos he has seen. “He looks a broken man, showing little of the calm defiance of previous occasions. He must genuinely fear that the Mexican government will swallow its pride this time and extradite him,” Macqueen writes in the Guardian.
2. Guzman’s deep V-neck tan line reveals his habit of wearing long-sleeve shirts with the top buttons undone — the look he was sporting Oct. 2 when he was photographed shaking hands with actor Sean Penn, who in Rolling Stone called it “a casual patterned silk shirt.” TMZ called it “nightclubish,” and sourced two of Guzman’s shirts to a store in Los Angeles — Barabas Menswear, which is already capitalizing on the publicity on its Instagram account.
3. Unclean getaway: The stains on his undershirt are evidence of his latest tunnel escape. When Mexican marines raided the safe house in Los Mochis, Guzman and an associate escaped through a secret staircase, hidden behind a mirror in the home’s walk-in closet. The staircase connected to the city’s storm sewer system, where Guzman travelled several blocks in cramped, soggy conditions before emerging on the street to steal two cars before the authorities caught up with him.
4. Arresting place: Guzman was taken to the Hotel Doux, on the outskirts of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, after his arrest. On TripAdvisor, the hotel’s page comes with an alert to avoid non-essential travel to the state, where “one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations” is based. It just so happens that organization is the Sinaloa Cartel, which controls vast drug trafficking operations and is run by the guest who spent a few hours in Room 51 recently.
5. ‘Hell of a deal’: Hotel Doux, where Guzman was kept by police, is rated highly by guests. Although the most recent review on TripAdvisor is suspicious (“My stay was cut short though; all I had to wear was a dirty tank top”) the remainder were posted in 2014, and very positive: “Hell of a deal!” one reviewer enthused that April. “(Right) off the highway, friendly welcoming staff, restaurant on site with decent food and a room large enough to live in — what else can you want!? Oh, that’s right, secure parking! Love the shower — great pressure, hot water and it comes straight down from the ceiling. Didn’t watch TV but it seemed to have plenty of stations. Enjoy!”
6. Missing piece: The Guardian reported that the hotel was a “sex motel,” a “discreet refuge” with a satin bedspread and laminated menu of sex toys by the bedside. The photo of a topless woman seen behind Guzman was later taken down after the hotel became famous through this photo: “Who has it or why,” CNN’s Martin Savidge said on his televised tour of the room, “we do not know.”