Did El Chapo Declare War on ISIS?

(Getty)

New reports claim that a leaked encrypted email from Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to Islamic State “caliph” Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi is a declaration of war. However, it has been proven to be untrue.

On December 10, the New York Post, Forbes, and Fox News all reported that El Chapo had declared war on Daesh. Fox News wrote:

Chapo’s anger toward the radical jihadist group does not stem from some sense of altruism for the victims of the recent attacks in Paris or San Bernardino, but instead from concerns about his bottom line after ISIS destroyed several of his Sinaloa Cartel’s drug shipments moving through the Middle East.

Other news sites reported on the story on December 11, including The Mirror. All cited their source as Cartel Blog, who leaked the email allegedly written by El Chapo:

“You [ISIS] are not soldiers. You are nothing but lowly p*ssies. Your god cannot save you from the true terror that my men will levy at you if you continue to impact my operation.”
“My men will destroy you. The world is not yours to dictate. I pity the next son of a wh*re that tries to interfere with the business of the Sinaloa Cartel. I will have their heart and tongue torn from them.”

It looks like it’s on. It would be ironic that the group who ends up taking out ISIS is El Chapo’s drug cartel! They seem up to the task and it could be worth giving immunity to this guy in exchange for him and his boys taking out ISIS once and for all!”

Cartel Blog posted the above email story on December 7 but the original story actually came from “Thug Life Videos.” On their website, Thug Life Videos writes that “as well as more serious content, we sometimes share the odd satire stories for your entertainment.”

Steve Charnock, who works for Thug Life Videos, 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.

So no, El Chapo is not at war with ISIS.