El Chapo’s son released to avoid ‘war’ with drug cartel
It was the most important operation against organised crime in years. At almost every step, it went awry.
On Thursday afternoon, local time, in the northwestern city of Culiacan, soldiers and police arrived in a convoy at the home where Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of former drug kingpin Joaquin ‘‘El Chapo’’ Guzman, was staying, a sprawling compound behind 5m concrete walls.
The younger Guzman was a leading figure in the Sinaloa Cartel, which his father had built from Culiacan into one of the world’s most powerful criminal organisations until his arrest in 2016. Ovidio Guzman was seen as an heir apparent – in February he’d been indicted by the US Justice Department for ‘‘knowingly, intentionally, and willfully’’ distributing drugs to be exported into the United States.
But as Mexican security officials crept closer to Guzman on Thursday, they were informed that they did not yet have an arrest warrant for him. They needed to wait, according to Security Minister Alfonso Durazo – a remarkable misstep that quickly turned the city of Culiacan into an urban war zone and ultimately led to the release of one of Mexico’s most infamous drug traffickers.
The bungled operation in Culiacan offered vivid proof that in parts of Mexico, the government can be outmanned, outgunned and outsmarted by drug cartels. It marked one of the most embarrassing moments of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s presidency, forcing the country’s leader to explain why his government returned Guzman to the Sinaloa Cartel: ‘‘We can’t value the capture of a criminal more than the lives of people,’’ he said at a news conference.
The failed operation is also certain to drive a wedge between the United States and Mexico on counternarcotics and security strategy. Guzman’s arrest was meant as a first step toward extradition to the United States, Lopez Obrador said.
As soon ass Mexican security forces arrived at the home, the Sinaloa cartel mobilised, dispatching convoys of gunmen in pickup trucks with mounted machine guns, seizing main roads and highways. At least 49 prisoners escaped from detention. Meanwhile, the Mexican soldiers and police had no backup, according to secretary of public security Alfonso Durazo.
Videos quickly emerged of gun battles across the city and incinerated cars sending plumes of smoke into the sky. One video appeared to capture the prison break. Another showed schoolchildren taking cover behind a car. Another showed a confrontation between a truckload of soldiers and cartel members, who vastly outnumbered them.
Eight soldiers were detained. At least eight people were killed. A helicopter took gunfire.
Thousands of Mexicans watched the videos in real-time.
‘‘The (cartel) deployed across the city,’’ Lopez Obrador said at the news conference, explaining the threat posed by the cartel and the ‘‘many citizens at risk.’’
Top security officials ‘‘decided to protect the lives of people, and I was in support of that,’’ he said.
By evening, not long after a mug shot of Guzman circulated online, news spread that he had been released back to the cartel. Three other cartel members were detained and then released along with Guzman, part of a ‘‘political deal,’’ according to a senior military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the matter.
As security has worsened across Mexico, with homicides hitting record levels this year, many have waited for Lopez Obrador to articulate a strategy to address the problem.
During his campaign last year, his plans mostly consisted of rhetorical flourishes: ‘‘hugs, not bullets’’ and ‘‘you can’t fight violence with violence.’’
– Washington Post