On Thursday, a rumor began circulating online that infamous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman had declared war on Daesh (ISIS) after a drug shipment making its way through the Middle East had been intercepted by the militant group.
The claim was an easy one to latch onto—the cartel leader has made headlines in the past with Twitter battles against Trump and rants about the Mexican government. So when it was reported that he had delivered a "chilling" message to Daesh, saying: "your god cannot save you from the true terror that my men will levy at you if you continue to impact my operation."
News and social media alike rallied around the story as it broke.
Awesome... I think? - "Chapo Guzmán threatens WAR on ISIS after they destroy drug shipment" >> https://t.co/B7Hd8n6XdZ #SomebodysGottaDoIt
— JΞSTΞR ✪ ΔCTUAL³³º¹ (@th3j35t3r) December 10, 2015
El Chapo vs. ISIS gotta be made into a movie yo
— Jahan (@H00PINATI) December 10, 2015
Drug lord El Chapo has declared war on ISIS leader, al Baghdadi. I'm ok with that. #IsThisRealLife
— Evie Van Pelt (@OleMissEvie) December 10, 2015
Good News: We have a new partner in the fight against ISIS. Bad News: He's a drug lord. https://t.co/ZeTt4zjlyH
— 98.1 The Bridge (@981TheBridge) December 10, 2015
So it was with a heavy heart that the Internet came to terms with news that rolled out Friday—it was all a lie.
The letter, allegedly leaked to Cartel Blog, turned out to be a hoax spawned by entertainment site Thug Life Videos. This was eventually revealed by the fact-checking site Snopes.com, but not before the original story was picked up by the Washington Post, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail, among others.
The author of the original post told Snopes:
"Maybe I didn't make this El Chapo story funny or weird enough, though. Or I just have an uncanny ability to ape how Mexican drug cartel kingpins talk. Only no one seemed to doubt it when it hit the desks of all the major news outlets. The Telegraph, Express and Mirror in the UK - Washington Post, Fox News, Sun Times, New York Post in the US."
Ah well, maybe next time.
