Entertainment · TV & Streaming · 17 hrs ago
Documentary revisits El Chapo’s 2015 prison escape and recapture
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán escaped Mexico’s El Altiplano prison on July 11, 2015, through a tunnel about 1.5 kilometres long.
The tunnel linked the shower area of his cell to a property being built outside the prison in Almoloya de Juárez, in the State of Mexico.
Then-President Enrique Peña Nieto learned of the escape while flying to France for an official visit, after a technical stop in Canada.
He was told about it two hours and 25 minutes after the escape had taken place.
A new two-part ViX documentary reconstructs the six months after the escape, using interviews, intelligence information and previously unseen footage.
It examines the clues, operations and decisions involved in the search, which ended with Guzmán back in custody.
The series offers new details about how the escape and pursuit unfolded, and is set to premiere on October 27.
A ViX documentary revisits Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s 2015 escape from Mexico’s El Altiplano prison and the pursuit that led to his recapture.
The series reconstructs the six months after his escape through testimony, intelligence and more than 40 minutes of previously unseen footage.
Guzmán escaped through a tunnel about 1.5 kilometres long, linking his cell’s shower area to a property under construction outside the prison.
Enrique Peña Nieto, then Mexico’s president, learned of the escape while travelling to France on July 11, 2015.
The documentary, directed by Héctor Laso, is scheduled to premiere on ViX on October 27, 2026.
- Who
- Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, then leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped and was later recaptured.
- What
- A documentary revisits his 2015 prison escape and the pursuit that led to his recapture.
- When
- The escape took place on July 11, 2015. The documentary is scheduled to premiere on October 27, 2026.
- Where
- Guzmán escaped from El Altiplano prison in Almoloya de Juárez, in the State of Mexico.
- Why
- The series reconstructs the escape, the authorities’ investigation and the operation that led to his recapture.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Guzmán escaped from El Altiplano prison through a tunnel.
Peña Nieto was informed of Guzmán’s escape while travelling to France.
A pursuit involving leads, operations and decisions culminated in Guzmán’s recapture.
- Documentary
- Operación Cisne Negro
- Platform and premiere
- ViX, October 27, 2026
- Prison
- El Altiplano, Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico
- Escape tunnel
- About 1.5 kilometres long
- Previously unseen footage
- More than 40 minutes
- Investigation period
- About 10 months
What people are saying
Returning was not going to solve anything. These eventualities happen anywhere in the world. Even the best hunter sometimes loses the hare, as the saying goes.
It was the perfect storm.