Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman: A Captain of Industry?

By stephen on March 13th, 2009

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Earlier this week Forbes magazine released their much anticipated and much discussed list of the world’s top billionaires. The concept, simple enough, ranks the world’s richest billionaire businessmen from the wealthiest to the, uh, not as wealthy. Or something like that. Anyway, this year much of the list discussion centered on the decrease in the number of Forbes certified billionaires. It appeared that, yes, even the wealthy can be hurt by a global economic downturn.

A story less reported on however was the man who landed at number 701. That is, Joaquin Guzman AKA El Chapo AKA Shorty. A new entry to the list, Guzman made it, not as a Titan of Wall Street (do these still exist?) or as the heir to a large family fortune, but rather as the deadly Mexican drug lord and de facto head of the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Well known for his sophisticated tunneling methods as well as prison escape via laundry basket, Guzman made his large fortune much as many other members of the list did: by dominating the competition in his particular trade. The problem, of course, being that his particular trade is cocaine and his method of dominating was thoroughly cruel.

Now this has upset a few, most notably lead figures of the Mexican Government. Medina Mora, the Attorney General of Mexico, condemned Forbes for “comparing the deplorable activity of a criminal wanted in Mexico and abroad with that of honest businessman.” President Felipe Calderon had equally terse language for the magazine.

So what does this all mean – is Forbes indirectly supporting the achievements of drug lord Joaquin Guzman OR perhaps are they suggesting that billionaires shouldn’t necessarily be seen as role models? Let me know your thoughts below.