'El Chapo' could stay strong inside Mexican prison

MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and E. EDUARDO CASTILLO

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman appears Tuesday before a judge virtually certain to keep him for the immediate future in Mexico, where authorities say there is no chance of escaping his cell in the nation's highest-security prison.

Mexico's top officials say that despite a string of U.S. cases against him, Guzman will stay in Mexico for now to face local charges and interrogation by investigators looking to dismantle his multi-billion dollar cartel.

But experts say President Enrique Pena Nieto's government hasn't proven able to match headline-grabbing arrests like Guzman's with complex, long-term investigations and prosecutions of deep-rooted criminal networks. Cases have stalled, cartels keep operating and last year one of Guzman's closest allies walked out of the prison where the U.S. said he was running drugs from behind bars.