‘El Chapo’ is Mexico’s Hottest Halloween Costume
Over a thousand El Chapo masks and prison uniforms have sold in the U.S. as well.
He hasn’t been re-captured but infamous Sinaloa Cartel drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman may be injured, according to Mexican officials. A report from CNN indicated authorities were searching for El Chapo in the northeastern portion of the country and that the fugitive may have suffered injuries as he rushed to avoid apprehension.
If El Chapo is wounded and in deep hiding, he may miss the uplifting news that his image has become one of his native land’s most in-demand costumes for Halloween. The Washington Post reported a Mexican company, Grupo Rev, “plans to rake in the pesos this Halloween season with its newest ensemble of latex masks and prison attire that resembles the man who for years trafficked cocaine to the United States, shipped methamphetamines to Canada and distributed ecstasy to as far off as Europe.”
The United States, which wants El Chapo as badly as his home country, believes him to be “the world’s most powerful drug trafficker,” and that power increased after his audacious escape in July, 2015. So El Chapo’s folk hero status mostly explains his image becoming iconic enough to hit the streets alongside ghosts and witches on October 31. Grupo Rev’s Diego Esponda told the Post there’s a little more to his company’s decision than that—there is an element of political satire as well. “It was funny in a way for us to show criticism of our government,” Esponda said, “after it arrested El Chapo and then watched him escape only a few months later.”
The Post also reported Grupo Rev’s other big seller is its Donald Trump mask, as the Republican candidate’s statements about immigration and Mexicans in general have not gone over well south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
We recommend caution in donning an El Chapo disguise, there’s a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture and no one wants to be mistaken for the guy walking down a shadowy street on Halloween night.