‘El Chapo” Killed? Is The Most Wanted Man in Mexico and Chicago’s Public Enemy No. 1 Still Alive?

Guatemalan authorities are investigating whether a firefight between rival drug traffickers may have resulted in the killing of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman according to The Daily Mail.

The Interior Minister of Guatemala Mauricio Lopez told The Associated Press that police and soldiers were searching on foot and air around the Peten province of the country looking for the scene of the reported gunfight. Authorities on Thursday night were halting the search for the scene due to the lack of evidence found showing that an incident occurred.

The Peten area of the country is reportedly home to the Zetas drug gang, who is the top rival for Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel. They were alleged to have killed 27 ranch workers in 2011 in the area that is isolated away from main roads and is considered jungle-like. Guatemalan government spokesman Francisco Cuevas told Guatevision Television that two gangs did clash in Peten and that two men had died in the shootout.

"We have to wait for all the technical information in order to determine if, in fact, one of the dead is of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman," Cuevas said.

The situation was even more muddled after state-run Guatemalan news agency, Agencia Guatemalteca de Noticias said that security force reported the discovery of two dead bodies and the finding of vehicles and weapons. Defense Minister Ulises Anzueto replied that he had no information about a clash between solders and drug traffickers in Peten.

Mexico's most wanted man has been in hiding since escaping from a maximum security Mexican prison in 2001 through a laundry truck. He was captured in Guatemala in 1993. The United States has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture and the city of Chicago named "El Chapo" (which means Shorty) Public Enemy No. 1. This was the first time the city has given someone that moniker since gangster Al Capone back in 1930.

Guzman has been accused of starting the drug cartel wars when he ordered the killing of the leader of Juarez and his wife in 2004 so he could take over control of that city's drug trade. This was after a pact of non-aggression was signed by all the leaders of the cartels in Mexico promising no violence amongst one another. In 2006, Mexican troops were sent in to areas of the country where drugs were rampant in a battle that still rages, even after 38,000 people have died due to the war of drugs in the country.

While the investigation whether Guzman is alive or dead, he could still be on the move around South America. Forbes magazine listed "El Chapo's" drug fortune is at $1 billion and growing.