THE BORDER REPORT

That's what people are saying anyway. Killed yesterday in a gunfight in Guatemala with local narcos that left 11 dead. Lots of heavy machine guns, rocket launchers and Gulf Cartel hitmen, the country's drug czar says.

So far, it doesn't look like the Americans are convinced.

"The only ones who think Chapo was killed in Guatemala are the Guatemalans," one federal source tells me.

Now, Shorty, Latin America's most wanted drug baron, has visited Guatemala before; in fact, it's where he was arrested back in 1993, the incarceration that ended in a public humiliation for Pres. Vicente Fox when he escaped the maximum security prison in Guadalajara.

So it's not entirely far-fetched to assume he's returned on some business negotiation or other and got in a scrap with the locals. Unlikely, but not impossible.

What interests me far more is Guatemala stepping into the Latin America narco-turf wars.

Yesterday, the country's daily, Prensa Libre, ran a large story above the fold about four helicopters the U.S. has given to the country's federal law enforcement agency; part of a $20 million security package made available this year.

That's a pittance when compared to the $1.4 billion security aid package the U.S. is drafting for Mexico. But if suddenly the Gulf Cartel and Shorty Guzmán are battling it out in Guatemala – which the state's drug czar insinuated today – Guatemala could start seeing some serious money pouring in to control the fight. They just have to build a convincing enough case. Like hinting that Shorty died in their country, for example.

-- Michel Marizco