Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Mexican Sinaloa cartel leader, was captured over the weekend, but there’s already theories the whole thing was a fake.
According to local Mexican reports, social media users have said that there’s notable facial differences between the real Guzman and the person who they say was captured Saturday. They’ve described him as “El Chafa,” or a fake.
The Latin Times points out that the person who was captured was planted there by the Mexican government to bolster President Enrique Peña Nieto’s status.
One photo that was shared shows the differences in his ears, nose, and jaw line--as well as curly hair--between the person who was arrested over the weekend and photos from more than 10 years ago of Guzman. They also said that the two men have a height differential.
The photos are blurry, as the Latin Times points out, and the earlier photos of Guzman are from 11 years ago when he was last captured. At the time, he was able to escape prison and hasn’t been seen since he was arrested Saturday.
There’s also bogus rumors being spread about an innocent man named Gregorio Chavez being arrested instead of Guzman. It was posted by “satire” news site Huzlers.com, which publishes fake news stories.
Another fake story from Huzlers said that Guzman escaped prison in a bloody escape attempt that left dozens dead.
“Huzlers.com is a combination of real shocking news and satire news to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief,” says Huzlers in its disclaimer.
