EL PASO, Texas, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Two Mexican men made Forbes' list of the most powerful men and women, one for his philanthropy, the other for his drug-trafficking, the magazine said.
Mexican businessman Carlos "Slim" Helu and Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman have affected the El Paso, Texas, and Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico areas in disparate ways, the El Paso Times reported Friday.
This is the first time the magazine's list of influential persons is not based solely on wealth, Forbes editors said.
One of Helu's companies is credited with assisting in development of a water and wastewater system for the Juarez area, a project crucial to the development of a binational community at Santa Teresa, N.M.-San Jeronimo, Chihuahua, the newspaper said.
Helu, 69, is considered to be the richest man in Latin America and has been associated with Sears de Mexico and many business and philanthropic works, the newspaper said.
Guzman, 52, of Sinaloa, Mexico, is known as the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, a breakaway from the Carrillo Fuentes group. Thousands of deaths in Juarez and elsewhere in Chihuahua have been attributed to warring between the two groups for control of drug corridors, the newspaper said.
Guzman made Forbes' list of the richest people in the world in March. He is wanted in Mexico and the United States on drug-trafficking charges.
