What happened to the cops who caught Chapo in 2016?
After they captured Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán on January 8, 2016, the two Mexican federal officers received internal recognition and were posted abroad as embassy attachés for their safety. When the Federal Police was dissolved and the National Guard created, they were brought home and left without that state protection, journalist Héctor de Mauleón has said.
Key Takeaways
- Two federal police officers detained chapo Guzmán in Los Mochis on Jan. 8, 2016, under extreme risk and distrust of their own ranks.
- They were later sent overseas as embassy attachés, then returned after the Federal Police was replaced by the National Guard.
- Netflix’s La Captura, directed by Chava Cartas, retells the raid from the officers’ point of view.
- Mauleón says the agents ended up “abandoned by the State” once institutional protection vanished.
What happened to the officers after they arrested Chapo?
Interest spiked again after Netflix released La Captura, which shifts focus from the cartel boss to the federal agents who held him. According to Infobae, citing Héctor de Mauleón on Con los de casa, the officers’ aftermath was unexpected.
Mauleón said the pair acted under intense pressure, unsure whom to trust because organized crime had infiltrated security forces. They reported the arrest by phone rather than radio, fearing the frequency was compromised.
After delivering Guzmán, they received internal recognition and were posted abroad as embassy attachés to protect them. When the presidential term ended, the Federal Police disappeared, the National Guard was created, and the agents were brought back—left exposed, in Mauleón’s words.
Why does the Netflix film La Captura matter now?
Directed by Chava Cartas and produced by Francisco González Compeán, the film reconstructs the Jan. 8, 2016, recapture. It draws on one federal officer’s testimony and Mauleón’s chronicles of the tense hours around the arrest.
Alfonso Herrera and Noé Hernández play Arturo Carmona and Héctor Rosales—ordinary agents with families, not Hollywood action heroes. The plot stresses offers of money and property to free Guzmán, plus fear that superiors might be on a cartel payroll.
Herrera spent nearly four days filming the motel climax, where the officers hold Guzmán while waiting for backup. For more buzz-driven explainers across our desk, see the Fintech & Crypto Alerts hub.
What do newly released videos show about the 2016 capture?
More than a decade later, Mauleón published three previously unseen videos for El Universal covering Guzmán’s final minutes of freedom. They track him from Hotel & Suites Doux, room 51, through his transfer to Mexico City.
In one clip, Guzmán washes his face and asks if soap will hurt his eyes. In another, under federal custody, he says he does not want people to fight police or the government if he fails—insisting there would be “no war.”
The footage also underscores how precarious the arrest was after he fled nearly naked through a tunnel and was found. Mauleón’s verdict on the officers remains blunt: when public servants do their job well, recognition fades; when institutions change, they can be left alone.