1672985907 Mexico Chaos reigns in Culiacan city after El Chapos sons

Mexico: Chaos reigns in Culiacan city after El Chapo’s son’s arrest The

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Burning vehicles are crossed in the street during an operation to apprehend Joaquin's son MARCOS VIZCARRA v AFP Burning vehicles are crossed in the street during an operation to arrest Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s son, Ovidio Guzman, in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico January 5, 2023. – Intense gunfire rattled a cartel’s heartland in northwestern Mexico on Thursday after security forces launched an operation that reportedly arrested a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. (Photo by Marcos Vizcarra / AFP)

MARCOS VIZCARRA v AFP

Mexico: After the arrest of El Chapo’s son Chaos in the city of Culiacan (Photo taken in the city of Culiacan after the arrest of Ovidio Guzman, son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman on January 5, 2023)

MEXICO – Mexican security forces this Thursday, January 5, captured one of the sons of the famous drug lord imprisoned in the United States, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, during an operation in the northwest of the country. Intense exchanges of fire between security forces and armed men ensued.

Ovidio Guzman was arrested in the city of Culiacan and accused of leading the “Los Menores faction linked to the Pacific Cartel,” another name for the Sinaloa Cartel, Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval announced.

The suspected 32-year-old drug dealer was taken on an Air Force plane to Mexico City, where he was taken to an organized crime prosecutor’s office. Another Sinaloa cartel leader has also been arrested, according to several Mexican media outlets citing federal sources.

Shots fired at planes

After his arrest in the Sinaloa state capital, and particularly at the airport where flights were grounded, there was an intense exchange of fire between the army, National Guard and gunmen, an AFP journalist reported.

An airliner was hit by a bullet just before takeoff, Aeromexico said in a statement, adding that the passengers were then taken to safety.

“AeromĂ©xico confirms that they shot at a plane that was about to take off for Mexico City. They shot at a Mexican Air Force plane. A driver films the caravan of vehicles from which the shots are fired. »

Several burning vehicles are spewing thick smoke in the city streets, which is the scene of panic scenes among the population seeking shelter. schools were closed.

Five million dollars for the arrest of JoaquĂ­n “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons

The arrest comes four days before US President Joe Biden arrives in Mexico for a summit with Mexican and Canadian leaders. The United States offered five million dollars to capture Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons.

Ovidio Guzman, aka “El Raton” (the mouse, editor’s note), is considered the leader of “Los Menores”, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel founded four decades ago by his father “El Chapo”. who is currently serving life in prison in the United States. He is the best known of the “Los Chapitos” clan, which Mexican authorities say includes his three other brothers, Joaquin Guzman, Ivan Archivaldo and Jesus Alfredo, who are also involved in drug trafficking.

Slender and bushy, Ovidio Guzman, from Culiacan, was wanted by US authorities in the United States for trafficking in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.

The US State Department says he got into the drug business after his brother Edgar was shot dead in Culiacan in 2008. With his brother Joaquin, they then began buying marijuana in Mexico, cocaine in Colombia, and ephedrine in Argentina to make methamphetamine.

According to the US authorities, “El Raton” controls several secret laboratories that produce between 1,360 and 2,200 kilograms of methamphetamine every month. These various drugs “are sold to other cartel members and dealers in the United States and Canada,” according to the State Department.

America’s war on the fentanyl trade

The Sinaloa cartel is considered by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to be the prime culprit behind the trafficking of fentanyl, a drug that is 50 times more potent than heroin and has caused numerous overdose deaths in the United States.

“Other information indicates that Ovidio ordered the killings of whistleblowers, a drug dealer and a famous singer who refused to sing at his wedding,” the report added.

In October 2019, Ovidio Guzman was briefly arrested and then released following his arrest by order of President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador following a violent uprising in Culiacan. The president had justified this criticized decision by saying that a bloodbath had been avoided.

Another police operation was carried out in northern Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez on Thursday, killing the leader of a gang allied with the Juarez Cartel in its war against Sinaloa. The latter, Ernesto Piñon, aka “El Neto,” escaped with 24 other prisoners from a city jail on Sunday during an armed attack on the jail that killed 19 people, including 10 guards.

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