The arrest of "El Chapo"'s son has caused twenty-nine deaths

BBCNews

Photo: Reuters

BBCNews. January 7, 2023

At least 29 people died during the bloody operation to arrest the son of Mexican drug lord "El Chapo," Mexican authorities say.

 

Ovidio Guzmán-López, 32, the alleged leader of his father's former cartel, was captured in Culiacán and flown to Mexico City on Thursday.

 

But during and after the arrest, 10 soldiers and 19 suspects were killed.

 

Angry gang members blocked roads, set dozens of vehicles on fire and attacked planes at a local airport.

 

Another 35 soldiers were wounded and 21 armed men were arrested, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said Friday.

 

Guzmán-López, nicknamed "El Ratón," was taken by helicopter and flown to the capital before being taken to a maximum security federal prison.

 

He is accused of leading a faction of his father's notorious Sinaloa cartel, one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the world.

 

His father, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, is serving a life sentence in the US after being convicted in 2019 of drug trafficking and money laundering. His trial revealed some of the brutal details of how Mexico's drug cartels operate.

 

The six-month surveillance operation to capture Guzmán-López was supported by US officials, Sandoval said.

 

The United States had offered a reward of up to $5 million (£4.2 million) for information leading to his arrest or conviction, as well as that of three of his brothers, who are also believed to have kept their positions. command in the group.

 

But a federal judge in Mexico has now suspended any extradition proceedings against him, according to local media.

 

The operation, which began at dawn in Culiacán, in the state of Sinaloa, northwest of Mexico, unleashed a wave of violence by members of the armed cartel.

 

Dozens of vehicles were set on fire and at least two planes at Sinaloa airports were hit by gunfire, in attacks attributed to the Sinaloa cartel. As a result, more than 100 flights were canceled at local airports.

 

Two Mexican Air Force planes were forced to make emergency landings after they were hit by cartel gunfire, Defense Minister Sandoval said.

 

The authorities deployed helicopter gunships to support the ground operation.

Mexican President Andrés López Obrador said Mexican forces had acted responsibly to care for the civilian population and avoid innocent victims. No civilian deaths have yet been reported.

 

Another 1,000 soldiers are being sent to Sinaloa to assist with ongoing security measures.

 

Videos on social media have shown burning buses blocking roads in Culiacán.

 

Justine Goldbas, 32, was riding a bus through Sinaloa returning to Los Angeles with her husband and eight-year-old son just before the riots began Thursday.

 

They were then told that the bus was "at risk" and the driver was informed that he needed to "stop and hide." The vehicle was parked off the main road for 16 hours in Caborca, in the neighboring state of Sonora, before it was allowed to move again.

 

"There was a lot of fear, people were scared," Goldbas said.

 

«Our bus had just passed a place where it happened; literally if we had waited another 30 minutes before passing we would have been at the intersection.

 

"We have also seen security guards, some in cars and others in large tanks heading south. "We may have been far from that, but we were close enough to see a lot of people driving pretty fast in the opposite direction."

 

The fuselage of a plane scheduled to fly from Culiacán to Mexico City was hit by gunfire during the operation Thursday morning as it prepared to take off, Mexican airline Aeroméxico said.

 

No customers or employees were harmed, he said. A video posted on social media appears to show passengers crouching and cowering in their seats.

 

"As we were accelerating for takeoff, we heard gunshots very close to the plane, and that's when we all fell to the ground," one of the passengers, David Tellez, told the Reuters news agency.

 

The Culiacán airport resumed operations on Friday.

 

US President Joe Biden will visit Mexico for a summit of North American leaders next week. Now it will arrive on Sunday, a day earlier than expected, according to a tweet from Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. No reason was given as to why he was early.

 

There were lockdowns in different parts of the city and residents were urged to stay home. Many businesses were also looted and exchanges of gunfire took place between security forces and gang members.

 

All schools across the state of Sinaloa closed on Friday, the local government body that oversees education said.

 

Mexican security forces had previously arrested Guzmán-López in 2019, but released him to avoid the threat of violence from his followers.

 

The US State Department says he and his brother Joaquín currently oversee approximately 11 methamphetamine laboratories in the state of Sinaloa, which produce approximately 1,300-2,200 kg (3,000-5,000 pounds) of the drug per month.

 

They have also said that information indicates that Guzmán-López ordered the murder of informants, a drug trafficker and a popular Mexican singer who refused to sing at his wedding.