Mexican security forces on Thursday captured drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzmán, the son of jailed gangster Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, triggering a wave of violence ahead of a visit by US President Joe Biden next week.
The violence largely took place in the city of Culiacan in northern Sinaloa state, home to the powerful drug cartel of the same name, led by El Chapo before his extradition to the United States in 2017.
State Governor Ruben Rocha said that seven members of the security forces, including a colonel, had been killed and 21 wounded, as well as eight civilians.
Rocha said there were 12 clashes with security forces, 25 lootings and 250 vehicles set ablaze and roads blocked.
“Tomorrow we think we will be able to operate normally,” he said, adding that he had not discussed calling in more reinforcements from the army or National Guard.
A failed campaign to detain Ovidio in 2019 ended in disgrace for the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, after the arrest triggered a wave of violence that forced authorities to close Culiacan’s schools and airport. done.
At that point, Ovidio, who had become a prominent figure in the cartel since his father’s arrest, was quickly released from his cartel to end the violent retaliation.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval confirmed the capture of the 32-year-old on Thursday, saying Ovidio was being held in the capital Mexico City.
Videos shared on social media, which Reuters was unable to immediately verify, appeared to show heavy fighting throughout the night in Culiacan, with the sky lit up by helicopter gunfire.
The city’s airport was engulfed in violence, with Mexican airline Aeromexico saying one of its planes was hit by gunfire ahead of a scheduled flight to Mexico City. No one was hurt, it said.
David Tellez, a passenger who boarded the plane with his wife and three children, said they had decided to stay at the airport until it was safe to leave.
“The city is worse,” he said. “There’s a lot of shooting and confusion.”
A Mexican Air Force plane was also shot down, the Federal Aviation Agency said, adding that the airport in Culiacan as well as the Sinaloa cities of Mazatlán and Los Mochis would remain closed until security was assured.
US bounty
Ovideo’s latest capture comes ahead of a summit of North American leaders in Mexico City next week, which will be attended by US President Joe Biden and is expected to discuss security.
The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Ovidio’s arrest or conviction.
It is unclear whether Ovidio will be extradited to the United States like his father, who is serving a life sentence at Colorado’s Supermax, the most secure US federal prison.
A rise in overdose deaths fueled by the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the United States has increased pressure on Mexico to combat organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel responsible for producing and shipping the drug.
The cartel is one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.
Tomas Guevara, a security expert at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, said the arrest helps Mexican law enforcement save face following Ovidio’s 2019 release from custody.
Following criticism from several security experts, Guevara said it could also signal a change in the government’s view that López Obrador was soft towards the unions, an allegation he denies.
The president argues that the confrontational tactics of his predecessors were unsuccessful and only led to more bloodshed, adding that he would adopt a strategy of “not embracing bullets”.
Residents urged to stay indoors
Security forces attempted to control the violent reaction to the arrests in Culiacan, with heavily armed teams patrolling in pickup trucks.
“We continue to work to control the situation,” said Cristóbal Castaneda, Sinaloa’s public safety chief.
Officials urged people to stay indoors and said schools and administrative offices were closed because of the violence. Roads were also blocked.
Joaquin Guzmán, 65, was convicted in New York in 2019 of conspiracy to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs into the United States and conspiracy to murder enemies.
Eduardo Guerrero, director of Lancia Consulting, which analyzes Mexican organized crime, said pressure from the Biden administration to target the Sinaloa cartel had prompted Mexico to go after Guzmán.
But he warned that while Ovidio’s capture was likely to weaken that cartel, it could help its main rival, the notoriously violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
“It is very important that the government bear in mind that the weakening of the Sinaloa cartel could also lead to a greater expansion, a greater presence of the Jalisco cartel.”
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)