Mexico: lottery involves goods confiscated from drug traffickers
The remains of the quiet neighborhood of Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa, where the tunnel used by "El Chapo" in 2014 to escape is located as security forces break through the front door.
AFP - FERNANDO BRITO
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
This Wednesday, September 15, the eve of a national holiday in Mexico, an exceptional lottery will take place: around twenty buildings confiscated by the courts from drug lords or corrupt former officials will be put into play during this "narco- lottery ”, as the media have called it.
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With our correspondent in Mexico
,
Emannuelle Steels
One of these residences evokes a story well known to Mexicans: that of
Joaquín Guzmán's
incredible escapades
, “El Chapo”
.
In 2014, he narrowly escaped the security forces before being captured a few days later.
The house is now transformed into a jackpot.
Description: innocuous white facade, one-story house in a quiet neighborhood of Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa.
It would be an ordinary house if it weren't for this tunnel from the bathroom.
The tunnel used by "El Chapo" to escape, half naked, as the security forces break through the front door.
For 250 pesos, or 10 euros, the price of the lottery ticket, Mexicans can win this house or one of the 22 properties at stake.
From narco-palaces in Mexico City to apartments in Acapulco, from luxury cars to private jets, property confiscated by the courts is usually auctioned off.
But this time, the government is breaking the rule: the national holiday is well worth a few jackpots.
A lottery that poses an ethical problem
For
drug trafficking
specialist
Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, this lottery nevertheless poses an ethical problem: “
These houses were acquired thanks to the profits generated by drug trafficking, which resulted in many deaths.
To offer them as a prize in a lottery does not seem appropriate to me.
Above all, that we do not know in whose hands they could fall.
"
Some Mexicans believe that presenting the seized goods to the narcos as jackpots can only help to revive their legend.
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Mexico
Drug
Criminality