President defends letting El Chapo’s son free

THE Mexican president yesterday defended security forces over their handling of a shocking outbreak of drug gang violence, saying they had saved lives by freeing the son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman after a bungled arrest.

A gun battle on Thursday paralysed Mexico’s Sinaloa state capital and left the streets littered with burning vehicles, while footage showed armed civilians moving around Culiacan in trucks, firing in the streets in broad daylight. There was confusion over whether one or two of Guzman’s sons had been detained or even killed by the military.

El Chapo was jailed for life in the US earlier this year for running a multibillion-dollar drug-trafficking empire. It left his sons Ovidio and Ivan running the Sinaloa cartel.

Video released by Mexico’s security chief showed a military unit under fire during a routine patrol, leading to a house siege involving four occupants, one of whom was thought to be Ovidio Guzman, said Alfonso Durazo, the security minister. The patrol was driven back when cartel soldiers with “greater firepower” turned up and the military retreated to avoid a massacre, allegedly resulting in the release of Guzman.

Sources from Culiacan said the city had been thrown into chaos by the gun battles. The public security secretary confirmed about 20 prisoners had also escaped from the city prison during the violence, accompanied by armed men. There was still some confusion as to the whereabouts of El Chapo’s sons.