el chili es popeye

Who Is “El Chili”?

“El Chili” refers to Jorge Santiago Chávez, a known associate of the Zetas cartel, particularly active in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Briefly featured in Mexican news and cartel reporting, Chile—or “El Chili” as he was nicknamed—was identified as a ruthless hitman, reportedly involved in turf wars and highprofile executions during the height of Zeta operations.

He was known for operating under Miguel Treviño Morales (Z40), one of the most violent cartel leaders Mexico ever saw. “El Chili” made headlines for brutal enforcement tactics and briefly became a symbol of Zetasstyle violence.

So far, nothing connects him directly to Escobarera Colombia. But that’s not the end of it.

Who Is Popeye?

“Popeye” is the alias of Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, former chief hitman for Pablo Escobar. He was responsible for hundreds of murders in Colombia in the 1980s and early ’90s and proudly took credit for them—on camera, in books, and on YouTube.

Popeye died in 2020 after a long media tour in his retirement years, where he cultivated a twisted fame by telling narco war stories. While he had many enemies, he wasn’t linked to Mexican groups in any handson operational way.

So where does “el chili es popeye” come from?

The Origins of the El Chili es Popeye Rumor

Online forums, YouTube comment sections, and dark memes have fueled the statement: el chili es popeye. It’s repeated without evidence—part urban legend, part narco fanfiction. People conflate the two because both were highprofile sicarios, both had similar reputations for violence, and both occupied similar symbolic roles in their respective regions.

But reputational overlap doesn’t mean they’re the same person.

There is no credible evidence—no legal documents, journalistic investigations, or even solid cartel testimony—that links El Chili of the Zetas to Popeye of the Medellín Cartel. They were decades and countries apart.

Yet, that phrase—el chili es popeye—still finds circulation. Why?

Why People Keep Saying El Chili es Popeye

Repetition. People love patterns. They’re drawn to phrases that sound convincing, even if they’re nonsense. In narcoculture, the lines between myth and reality are often blurred. Nicknames, lookalikes in grainy videos, and misinformation create an echo chamber where statements like el chili es popeye can live forever.

Sometimes, false connections are made intentionally—for clout, views, or mystery. Other times, casual internet misremembering gives incorrect associations airtime they don’t deserve.

Sorting Myth from Fact in el chili es popeye

Let’s cut the fog:

Different men. Different countries. Different decades. No overlap in documented operational work. No direct or indirect evidence they’re the same individual. The theory fails under minimal scrutiny.

Still, it’s easy to see why people latch on. The emotional draw to infamous figures like Popeye—and the drama of crossborder narco collaborations—makes fictional tyingtogether too irresistible for some to ignore.

The Real Cost of Misidentification

Careless mythmaking like el chili es popeye isn’t just an internet parlor game. It distracts from real reporting, messes with public understanding of organized crime, and can even affect the safety of people falsely connected to violent histories.

It also gives criminal figures an aura they probably don’t deserve—turning actual histories of murder and tragedy into entertainment for algorithms.

Final Word on el chili es popeye

At this point, there’s no wiggle room. The phrase el chili es popeye doesn’t hold up to fact. It’s classic online myth: catchy, cryptic, and confidently wrong. Like many things in narco culture, its popularity says more about the audience than the subject.

But if you hear it again—and you probably will—now you’ve got the facts.