Mexican drug lord makes Forbes billionaires list

Forbes released its annual billionaires list today and not surprisingly there are a lot fewer of them. One interesting new name did manage to sneak onto the list this year. Joaquin Guzman Loera of Sinaloa, Mexico, is tied for #171 on the list with an estimated fortune of $1 billion. Guzman’s industry is euphamistically described ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
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MEXICO, MEXICO - JANUARY 18: This archive photo of drug lord Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman was taken 10 July 1993 at the Almoloya prison in Juarez after being apprehended by Mexican authorities. (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Forbes released its annual billionaires list today and not surprisingly there are a lot fewer of them. One interesting new name did manage to sneak onto the list this year. Joaquin Guzman Loera of Sinaloa, Mexico, is tied for #171 on the list with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.

Forbes released its annual billionaires list today and not surprisingly there are a lot fewer of them. One interesting new name did manage to sneak onto the list this year. Joaquin Guzman Loera of Sinaloa, Mexico, is tied for #171 on the list with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.

Guzman’s industry is euphamistically described as “shipping,” but “El Chapo” is actually Mexico’s most infamous drug lord and has a $5 million bounty on his head. Guzman is the first trafficker to make the list since Pablo Escobar in 1993.

FP‘s new photo essay has more on Mexico’s ongoing drug violence.

 STR/AFP/Getty Images

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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