Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman reportedly used the anabolic steroid testosterone according to the first local news reports from the “safe house” where the Mexican cartel drug lord was staying immediately prior to his re-capture by Mexico’s Infantería de Marina (“marines”) on January 8, 2016.
Carlos Loret, one of Mexico’s top journalists and news anchors, described some of the items found at the compound where El Chapo was staying in the coastal city of Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa. Specifically, police found injectable testosterone, syringes and a medical prescription for a substantial quantity of sexual performance enhancement drugs like Viagra and Cialis.
The discovery of injectable testosterone isn’t particularly unusual especially for a 61-year old man. It would not be unusual for a man of this age to be a recipient of doctor-prescribed testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).
However, the news leaks involving the discovery of testosterone and sexual enhancement drugs appeared to be part of a larger campaign to humiliate the billionaire who was once considered the “most powerful drug trafficker in the world” by the United States government.
Thanks to strategic leaks by unnamed government sources, the Mexican press and journalists have been relentless in poking fun at El Chapo. Not only did Guzman use steroids and sexual enhancement drugs, the cartel leader allegedly suffered from severe erectile dysfunction.
Penis implant
The Mexican newspaper “Reforma” reported the erectile dysfunction was so severe that Guzman underwent surgery involving the implantation of a medical device in his scrotum to “improve blood flow” to his penis.
Loret wrote on his blog that Guzman traveled to a clinic in Tijuana for the surgery sometime between September and October 2015.
“During the six months he was a fugitive, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman only left once their comfort zone,” Loret wrote. “According to sources in class in the National Safety Commission, he went to Tijuana to receive a cosmetic treatment and undergoing surgery for implantation of a prosthesis, a procedure that usually requires general anesthesia and an operating room, so I was not able practice in the mountains. “
Forensics doctors at the Federal Criminal Prison Altiplano No. 1 examined Guzman after his re-capture and confirmed the evidence of a recent surgery with a physical examination and x-rays.
“I saw the scars on the back, hips and reproductive system,” according to unnamed medical sources.
Kate del Castillo – La Reina del Sur
The reports appear to describe a 3-piece penile implant system that includes two fluid-filled cylinders inserted inside the penis, a reservoir placed in the abdomen and a pump in the scrotum that instantly achieves an erection upon activation.
Guzman allegedly decided to risk the surgery after he became infatuated with Mexican telenovela actress Kate del Castillo. Del Castillo was the star of the Spanish-language telenovela entitled La Reina del Sur which aired on the Telemundo network in 2011. In addition to the steroids and syringes, Guzman reportedly traveled with the entire La Reina del Sur mini-series on DVD.
La Reina del Sur (The Queen of the South) depicted protagonist Teresa Mendoza, played by del Castillo, as the girlfriend of an ambitious young drug trafficker in the Sinaloa cartel. Her fictitious boyfriend was killed. She fled Mexico to live in Spain. Mendoza subsequently became one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the Costa del Sol region of Spain.
Sean Penn and El Chapo
Prior to his penile implant surgery, Guzman met with del Castillo and American actor Sean Pean. Guzman didn’t seem to know or care about Penn. He really only wanted to see del Castillo to discuss making her the director and producer of an authorized film adaptation of his life.
Of course, it is possible that none of the rumors about El Chapo are true. Not the steroids. Not the erectile dysfunction. Not the penile implants. What is clear is that the Mexican government is trying hard to humiliate Guzman.
After all, no one has repeatedly humiliated the Mexican government in the eyes of the international community more than El Chapo. The repeated escapes of one of the world’s most wanted narco-terrorists from Mexico’s most secure prisons has been an endless source of embarrassment for government officials.
Mexico may be taking pleasure in a little payback.