![\"guzman](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/01\/guzman-1.png?w=620\")
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Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzm\u00e1n, the powerful leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, was recaptured on January 8<\/a> in a town not far from where he was born in Sinaloa state.<\/p>\n While its leader appears to be out of commission yet again, the\u00a0Sinaloa cartel<\/a>\u00a0is still arguably\u00a0the largest drug-trafficking organization in the world, and the\u00a0deep ties to Colombia it uses to influence the global cocaine trade have become more apparent over the last year.<\/p>\n According to a summer 2015 report<\/a> from from Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, the Sinaloa cartel\u00a0controls 35% of the cocaine exported from Colombia \u2014 the largest producer<\/a> of the drug in the world, which saw a 30% increase in potential-pure-cocaine production from 2013 to 2014,\u00a0according<\/a> to the DEA. DEA analysis also found that 90% of the cocaine consumed in the US was of Colombian origin.<\/p>\n Born in the mountains of Sinaloa state on Mexico\u2019s west coast, Guzm\u00e1n’s cartel has expanded throughout the country and around the world over the last several decades.<\/p>\n According to Spanish newspaper El Pa\u00eds, the cartel\u2019s marijuana and poppy fields in Mexico cover more than 23,000 miles<\/a> of land, an area larger than Costa Rica. It has operatives in at least 17 Mexican states and operations in up to 50 countries, Insight Crime reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n