At least 29 people dead in Mexico cartel stronghold areas following arrest of El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán
Several cities in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa exploded into violence this week after the arrest of alleged drug trafficker Ovidio Guzmán, son of the notorious former cartel boss Joaquin Guzmán .
In a pre-dawn operation Thursday north of Sinaloa’s capital, Culiacán, a stronghold of the drug cartel by the same name, Mexico’s military forces captured Ovidio Guzmán, who is one of El Chapo’s six sons. Burning cars, gunfire and threats to essential infrastructure have since been reported in the affected areas, the Canadian government“There is widespread violence and security operations in Sinaloa State ... since the arrest, on January 5, 2023, of a cartel leader.” The street battles killed 10 military personnel and 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Mexican Defence Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval told media Friday, adding that cartel gunmen opened fire on troops with .50-calibre machine guns. The army responded by calling in Blackhawk helicopter gunships to attack a convoy of 25 cartel vehicles, including truck-mounted cartel gun platforms, on Thursday. The cartel then opened fire on the military aircraft, forcing two of them down with “a significant number of impacts” in each of the two aircraft, Sandoval said. The gang then sent hordes of gunmen to attack fixed-wing aircraft, both military and civilian, at the city’s international airport. One civilian airliner was hit. The gunmen also shot up airport buildings in a bid to prevent authorities from flying the captured cartel boss out of the city. But, Sandoval said, authorities anticipating the resistance had loaded Ovidio Guzmán onto a military helicopter to fly him back to Mexico City. Hotels in the area barricaded their gates, with tourists and Mexican citizens sheltering inside, as helicopters patrolled the skies and military and police vehicles trundled up and down beaches that had been recently full of suntanning vacationers.The fighting came days before President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was to host Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden at a summit in Mexico City. Samuel González, who founded Mexico’s special prosecutor’s office for organized crime in the 1990s, said Guzmán’s capture was a “gift” ahead of Biden’s visit. The Mexican government “is working to have a calm visit,” he said. Juan Carlos Ayala, a Culiacan resident and Sinaloa University professor who studies the sociology of drug trafficking, said Ovidio Guzmán has been an obvious target at least since 2019. “Ovidio’s fate had been decided. Moreover, he was identified as the biggest trafficker of fentanyl and the most visible Chapos leader.” It is not the first time Ovidio Guzmán’s arrest has led to violence. An aborted operation to capture him three years ago set off violence in Culiacan that ultimately led Lopez Obrador to order the military to let Guzmán go. Ayala told The Associated Press that the atmosphere was calmer Friday, “but there are still a lot of burned-out vehicles blocking the streets.” Canadian tourists in the affected areas posted on social media that they could hear sirens, that streets were empty and restaurants were closed.The federal government continues to advise Canadians in Mexico to shelter in place, avoid crowds and demonstrations and not to try to cross blockades, even if they appear unmanned.
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