Gangsters bring chaos to Mexican city after arrest of El Chapo’s son

A massive gunfight brought the capital of Mexico’s Sinaloa state to a halt after security forces located one of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons who is wanted in the US on drug trafficking charges.

Mexican security secretary Alfonso Durazo said 30 members of the National Guard and army were patrolling in Culiacan when they were fired on from a house. They repelled the attack and inside the house found Ovidio Guzman Lopez.

Following his arrest, Culiacan exploded in violence, with armed gangsters in trucks roaring through the city centre shooting machine guns and sniper rifles.

Heavily armed gunmen blocked streets with burning vehicles, and videos published on social media showed a scene resembling a war zone, with gunmen, some wearing black ski masks over their faces, riding in the back of trucks firing mounted machine guns.

People could be seen running for cover as machine gun fire rattled around them. Motorists drove frantically in reverse to get away from the clashes.

“With the goal of safeguarding the well-being and tranquillity of Culiacan society, officials in the security cabinet decided to suspend the actions,” said Mr Durazo.

Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza, a lawyer for the family of “El Chapo”, said that “Ovidio is alive and free” but that he had no more details about what had happened.

Local resident Ricardo Gonzalez, a worker in the state’s congress, said Culiacan had not seen such a scene for almost a decade.

“There is a psychosis. Noone knows what is going on but everyone is afraid. There is no public transportation, no taxis, people outside the city remain blocked outside and tomorrow will be the same.”

Ovidio was not one of the jailed Mexican drug lord’s best-known sons – Ivan Archivaldoguzmanandjesus Alfredo Guzman are known as “los Chapitos,” or “the little Chapos,” and are believed to currently run their father’s Sinaloa Cartel together with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

But Ovidio Guzman was indicted in 2018 by a grand jury in Washington DC, along with a fourth brother, for the trafficking of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.

Sinaloa public safety director Cristobal Castaneda said that there were people wounded and did not rule out that there might have been deaths.

State officials asked residents to avoid going out in parts of city and Governor Quirino Ordaz confirmed that schools had been suspended but that businesses would open tomorrow.

Sinaloa is home to the cartel by the same name, which was led by “El Chapo” Guzman. Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in July.