The Guardian

Will El Chapo's conviction change anything in the drug trade?

The nearly half a century old ‘war on drugs’ shows no sign of ending, and neither does the illegal trafficking
Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, second from right, accompanied by US marshalls, gestures a ‘thumbs up’ to his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, as he leaves the courtroom on Tuesday. Photograph: Elizabeth Williams/AP

Standing on the steps of the Brooklyn courthouse amid flurries of sleet and snow, US attorney Richard Donoghue hailed the conviction of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán as a famous victory in America’s longest conflict.

“There are those who say the war on drugs is not worth fighting. Those people are wrong,” he said.

But that war – now nearly half a century old – shows no sign of ending, and neither does the trade in illegal narcotics.

In the course of Guzmán’s eleven week trial, prosecutors presented the Sinaloa Federation as a vertically-integrated organization with a clear chain of command leading all the way up to one all-powerful boss: El Chapo.

But Guzmán

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