I participated in the draw for the house of 'El Chapo' Guzmán in the Mexican lottery

Hernan Soto

09/16/2021 9:29 AM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 09/16/2021 9:34 AM

"What if I win Chapo's house?"

, we fantasized about a Mexican friend after telling her that he was determined to pay the $ 250 Mexican pesos - about $ 12.50 dollars - to participate in the

draw for the National Lottery

of Mexico that this year had among the jackpots a house owned by drug lord Joaquín Guzman Loera.

Every September 16 at dawn, Mexico celebrates its

Cry of Independence

, the homeland date where it is remembered as on that day, but in 1810, when the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla summoned the people of Dolores to rise up in arms against the dominance of the Spanish.

There are three clear indicators that anticipate the arrival of the Cry of Independence among those of us who live in Mexico City: the

streets full of Mexican flags

with people wearing those same colors, the

typical food dishes such

as chiles en Nogada and the raffle of the

Independence lottery

.

Yes, you read that correctly, a raffle organized by the Government is the one prior to a night of festivities.

A model of the Independence Lottery ticket.

This is not only my first year as a "chilango" –this is what the natives of Mexico City are called but also those who live there– but it is also my first time playing in a lottery.

But the opportunity is tempting: 22 prizes totaling 250 million Mexican pesos

–equal to $ 12,585,842 dollars–

some in cash, others in kind: among them,

a house of Chapo Guzmán.

This type of raffle began in 2020 when President

Andrés Manuel López Obrador

(AMLO) announced that he would

raffle the presidential

plane

that his predecessor Felipe Calderón acquired at the time.

Given the many frustrated attempts to sell it, the possibility of circumventing it arose.

Later, the Government would change its mind and instead of raffling the plane, it would award 100 prizes, the total amount of which would be equal to the value of the plane.

The success was resounding and that is why this year it was repeated but

with houses, land and even a box at the Azteca Stadium

as prizes.

Proceeds will be used to support athletes who participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Chapo Guzmán's house

​

The house of Joaquín "Chapo" Guzmán Loera in Culiacan that was raffled.

Photo: AP

Returning to the fantasy of winning the house of the drug lord, my friend reflected:

"I don't think Chapo likes it

.

"

And these awards that the government offers goods that are taken away from criminals by the Institute to give back to the people what was

stolen (Indep).

This year the house of El Chapo Guzmán is one of the main attractions.

Located in 

Culiacán

, it was one of the many properties that the narco leader owned in the area.

It was in 2014 - after 13 years of his first escape - that the DEA, the US anti-drug agency and the government of Enrique Peña Nieto

planned his capture at this particular address

.

But of course, catching El Chapo was not an easy task.

When the agents were already a few steps away and were trying to break down the armored door of the place, the powerful drug trafficker went to the bathroom and activated a device that raised the bathtub and exposed

a secret tunnel

that would allow him to escape through the drain and thus reach to any of its other properties.

AMLO invited Mexicans to buy a "little piece" of the lottery.

But Guzmán's house is not the only narco property that could be won.

The mansion of

Amado Carrillo

, known as

El Señor de los Cielos

, was another of the 22 awards.

Recovered 20 years ago, the luxurious home has more than 3,000 square meters in the south of Mexico City and is valued at 77,260,000 Mexican pesos - about

$ 3,888,688 dollars

-.

It is curious that El Señor de los Cielos also had his properties in Buenos Aires, which he bought after his passage at the end of the 90s and that after his death - in the middle of a particular cosmetic surgery - they were seized by the Argentine government and later auctioned.

Does luck work for a beginner?

​

On the same Wednesday the 15th and two hours after the draw - which took place at 4 pm Mexico City - I went out in search of my "

little piece

", as the draw ticket is called.

A man buys tickets for the September 15 draw.

"I want to buy my

piece

of the Independence Lottery. Where can I get it?" I asked the security of the complex where I live.

He looked at me in amazement but couldn't answer.

So I decided to just go out and see what I came up with.

He could well have checked the official lottery site where the more than

12 thousand positions

were marked

throughout the country or even bought it online where sites like TuLoteroMX, Cachito Electrónica and C Millonario sell the numbers for those who cannot or want to leave the comfort of your home. But of course, it is a good excuse to once again walk the streets bathed in colors.

I didn't need to walk more than two blocks to find the first lottery agency.

Mexico, like Argentina, have a deep-rooted culture of gambling

and it is common to find this type of business where the bills full of zeros hang.

"Do you have tickets for the Independence raffle?" I asked.

On the other side of the glass they announce that

there were no more left

.

Keep looking.

The lottery costs $ 250 Mexican pesos, about $ 12.50.

Photo: EFE

A few meters away, on a corner, a man shouts next to a stall like the newspapers, "

It's today, it's today. There are the last tickets for the independence raffle

."

I was already closer to my "little piece" of home.

"This year there are fewer people than other years, but it is still one of our most important raffles," says the vendor who shows the hanging tickets that he has left.

The number chosen is 1,810,162

.

I already have in my hands a small envelope containing one of the two million tickets that will participate.

It only remains to wait.

The place chosen to wait for the results is a few meters from where I made my purchase, in front of the El Moro building.

This is one of the first skyscrapers inaugurated in 1946 and today it is the headquarters of the National Lottery offices.

In 2020 the award was the equivalent of the value of the presidential plane.

Photo: EFE

"Last year our company bought tickets for all the employees," says Liz, a colleague from a Mexican media outlet.

"None of us won but we were close," he adds. 

Finally the moment arrived: 

the screaming children

 announced the numbers and the 22 winning tickets.

Ticket number 832,442, purchased in the capital, was the winner of the biggest prize in the National Lottery draw for Mexican Independence Day:

a box in the Aztec State

with a value of one million dollars.

My "little piece" didn't get anything

.

I was 371,543 numbers from El Chapo's house and 57,559 from gaining a 342 m2 piece of land in Ensenada, Baja California.

There will be no drug house or box at the Azteca Stadium for me.

The winning numbers of the 2021 Independence Lottery draw.

It is true that El Chapo's house

already has new owners

.

The winning number was 1,438,619, the "screamers" sang.

The mansion of "The Lord of the Skies" took ticket 287,961.

Look also

Mexico gives away the house of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in the Lottery

Mexican Independence Day: the most gloomy version of the origin of pozole