Raffle for Guzmán properties: Live like a narco

Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was one of the most powerful drug barons and is now in US custody. In his home country of Mexico, one of his houses has now been raffled off in the state lottery.

Children in uniforms with matching headgear and corona masks collect the lottery balls. At this moment an inconspicuous white house is being raffled off. However, whoever lived in it is an illustrator: the notorious Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán directed his drug business from there.

The former boss of the Sinaloa cartel is said to have spectacularly fled this house: he allegedly escaped into the sewer through a passage under the bathtub when the police were at the door. According to the legend. But that is not entirely certain. However, he has long been in prison in the USA.

Lot number 1438619 was awarded the contract

The winner with lot number 1438619 wins the bid for the Chapo House. Who is behind it remains unknown. Maybe it’s better that way, believes Xochitl. The profits are rather scary for her. “If I had won the house of Chapos now, I would have had to find an agency to sell the house straight away – and that is certainly not easy,” she says. It is permeated with bad vibrations.

And if you even get close to getting involved with the Narcos, you end up badly: There is murder and manslaughter. “For me it would be the horror of owning a house like this. The whole thing is a single risk,” says Xochitl. “I would never buy a ticket like that.”

Lottery winnings should flow into corona vaccines

But in general, Xochitl thinks it’s good that the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to give the money from illegal machinations back to society. When he took office, “AMLO”, as the Mexicans call it for short, founded the “Institute for Returning Stolen Items to the People”.

Originally, some of the properties were supposed to be auctioned, but that met with little interest. That is why the Narco real estate was raffled off by the state lottery. You could buy a ticket for 250 pesos, the equivalent of around ten euros. The proceeds will, among other things, flow into corona vaccines and the support of athletes, as it was said in advance.

Don Martin works as a caretaker in Mexico City. He has doubts about this announcement. “I don’t think that will happen. People should just be lulled here again,” he says.

After 40 minutes it’s all over

After around 40 minutes and 22 prizes, “El Gran Sorteo” – the big raffle – is over. The main prize is a box in the legendary Aztec football stadium with usage rights until 2065. There is also a corruption story in which state officials are said to have been involved.

The raffle was even scoffed at on Twitter: “In addition to the profit, the new owner has experiences with contract killers and violent evictions from his own house – with the support of the Mexican president,” wrote one user.