The proposal to create a drug trafficking museum in the municipality of Badiraguato, where Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was born, is causing controversy in Mexico, over which the leaders of the ruling National Movement for Regeneration (Morena) party are divided. .
“I absolutely do not share, and I emphatically reject, the idea of building a drug trafficking museum in Badiraguato”, wrote the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, from Morena, on his Twitter account. this Thursday (3).
The controversy began the day before, when the mayor of Badiraguato, José Paz López Elenes, also from Morena, proposed a public consultation to install a “Narco Museum” in the city with an investment of around 15 million pesos (around R$ 3.8 million).
The mayor argued that the museum would boost the economic development of the municipality, which has less than 10 thousand inhabitants and is located about 80 kilometers from Culiacán, capital of Sinalo a.
“We cannot deny our history, we have to recognize it and based on that we will work, it is possible to have a museum of drug trafficking, we are not closed to any subject”, López Elenes told press.
In the decade of 2010, the fight against cartels in Mexico was marked by the capture in 2014 of the powerful Guzmán, for his escape from a maximum security prison a year later through a tunnel, and finally for his new and final prison in Los Mochis, Sinaloa in January 2016.
However, the figure of El Chapo, who has been serving a life sentence in the United States for drug trafficking since July 2019, is still part of the cultural imagination of Mexicans and has been reinforced with television series and the sale of various products.
Regarding the possible museum, the mayor of Badiraguato also said that he will hear from experts to analyze what they recommend exhibiting at the site.
“We are not closed to any subject, if they guide us, it will be beneficial In order for the municipality of Badiraguato to have a drug museum, we will also promote it from the government”, he added.
The controversy intensified because last weekend the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, visited Badiraguato for the fourth time amid criticism from the opposition, which accuses him of having meetings with the Sinaloa Cartel.
“There is a campaign on the networks that I am going to Sinaloa, to Badiraguato, to meet with members of the Sinaloa Cartel. Well, no, I’m going to Sinaloa because it’s a state of good people, hardworking people, who shouldn’t be stigmatized”, argued the president on Monday (31).
For his part, Governor Rocha Moya, close to the president, commented this Thursday that Badiraguato, where he was also born, “is distinguished historically by its vocation for work, the kindness and loyalty of its people” and “these characteristic values prevail over any insidiousness that seeks to stigmatize this noble land”.
