At least 29 killed in Mexico capture of Sinaloa drug lord’s son
Nineteen suspected gang members and 10 military personnel were killed in a wave of violence surrounding the arrest of Mexican drug cartel boss Ovidio Guzman in the northern state of Sinaloa, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said on Friday.
Mexican security forces captured Mr Guzman, the 32-year-old son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, in the early hours of Thursday morning, prompting hours of unrest and shootouts with gang members, the minister said.
Mr Guzman was extracted by helicopter from the house where he was caught and flown to Mexico City, before being taken to a maximum security federal prison, Mr Sandoval added.
The arrest spurred the powerful Sinaloa Cartel — once headed by El Chapo himself — to go on a rampage, setting vehicles on fire, blocking roads and fighting security forces in and around Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa.
Twenty-one other people were arrested during Thursday’s operations, Mr Sandoval told a news conference, adding there were no reports of any civilian deaths.
President Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador said there were no immediate plans to extradite Ovidio to the United States, where his father is in a maximum security prison after being extradited in 2017 and found guilty in a New York court.
“The elements [of the case] have to be presented and the judges in Mexico decide,” he said. “It is a process...It is not just the request.” No US forces had assisted in Ovidio’s capture, he said.
An enhanced security presence will now remain in place in Sinaloa, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, to protect the public, with an additional 1,000 military personnel travelling to the region, Mr Sandoval said.
Passengers on an Aeromexico passenger flight at Culiacan airport crouched low below their seats as shots rang out around the runway on Thursday.
“As we were accelerating for takeoff, we heard gunshots very close to the plane, and that’s when we all threw ourselves to the floor,” passenger David Tellez said. Aeromexico said one of its planes was hit by gunfire at Culiacan but that no one was hurt.
The airport was due to reopen later on Friday after being closed due to the violence.
In 2019, a failed operation to arrest Ovidio ended in humiliation for Mr Lopez Obrador’s government. At the time, security forces briefly detained Ovidio, triggering a violent backlash from cartel loyalists and leading authorities to quickly release him to stave off the threat of further retribution from his henchmen.
His latest capture comes before a summit in Mexico City next week, which US President Joe Biden will attend.