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Mexican authorities released the mugshot of the son of jailed drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, a day after he was captured in an intense shootout between the military and cartel hitmen that left at least 29 people dead.
Ovidio “El Ratón” Guzmán, whose nickname means “the mouse,” was captured Thursday amid gunfights that turned the northern city of Culiacán into a war zone, three years after a failed arrest attempt turned equally violent.
In a detailed account of the battles that killed 10 military personnel and 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said cartel gunmen opened fire on troops with .50-caliber machine guns.
The military responded by calling in Blackhawk helicopter gunships to attack a convoy of 25 cartel vehicles, including truck-mounted cartel weapons platforms, on Thursday.
Ongoing shootings killed a Culiacán police officer and wounded 17 police officers and 35 military personnel.
Ovidio “El Ratón” Guzmán, whose nickname means “the mouse,” was captured Thursday amid gunfire that turned the northern city of Culiacán into a war zone.
A burning car is seen on the street during an operation to arrest Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s son, Ovidio Guzmán, in Culiacán, Sinaloa state, Mexico, on Thursday.
The cartel then opened fire on the military plane, shooting down two of them with “a significant number of hits” on each of the two planes, Sandoval said. The gang then sent hordes of armed men to attack both military and civilian fixed-wing aircraft at the city’s international airport.
A civilian aircraft was hit. The gunmen also fired at airport buildings in an attempt to prevent authorities from removing the captured cartel boss from the city. But, Sandoval said, the authorities, anticipating resistance, had loaded Ovidio Guzmán into a military helicopter to take him back to Mexico City.
The Mexican administration bagged the cartel’s high-profile figure days before hosting US President Joe Biden.
Samuel González, who founded Mexico’s special prosecutor’s office against organized crime in the 1990s, said Guzmán’s capture was a “gift” ahead of Biden’s visit. The Mexican government “is working to have a smooth visit,” he said.
Juan Carlos Ayala, a Culiacán resident and professor at the University of Sinaloa who studies the sociology of drug trafficking, said Ovidio Guzmán had been an obvious target for years.
Ovid’s fate was decided. In addition, he was identified as the largest fentanyl trafficker and the most visible leader of the Chapos.
Ovidio Guzmán is seen during a previous arrest in 2019. In that case, Mexican security forces were forced to release him after his gunmen opened fire in the western city of Culiacán.
Elements of the National Guard patrol the streets during an operation to arrest the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Ovidio Guzmán, in Culiacán.
The Mexican Army accompanied by the National Guard protects the Federal Center for Social Readaptation after Ovidio Guzmán was transferred there by military helicopter
Ayala said the atmosphere was calmer on Friday, “but there are still a lot of burned-out vehicles blocking the streets.”
The scope of the violence on Thursday was such that Sinaloa Gov. Ruben Rocha said cartel hitmen showed up at local hospitals, trying to kidnap doctors and take them away to treat wounded fighters.
Rocha said the gunmen would be treated if they showed up at hospitals, but the gunmen should not try to kidnap medical personnel.
“It got to the point where at one point the doctors were saying ‘we’re getting out of here,'” Rocha recalled, saying police had tightened security and convinced the doctors to stay.
Culiacán residents posted a video on social media showing convoys of armed men in pickup trucks and vans rolling down the city’s boulevards on Thursday. At least one convoy included a flatbed truck with a rear-mounted gun.
Despite the violence, Ayala said, many Culiacán residents may still support the cartel.
Police take security measures during the operation to capture Ovidio Guzmán López by elements of the Secretariat of National Defense of Mexico in Culiacán
Police examine abandoned civilian vehicle during operation to capture Ovidio Guzmán
That may be because of the money the gang brings to the region, but also because the locals know that even after the federal troops withdraw, the cartel will still be there. As bad as it is, the cartel has ensured relative stability, if not peace.
Guzmán was indicted by the United States on drug trafficking charges in 2018. According to both governments, he had assumed an increasingly important role among his brothers in carrying out his father’s businesses, along with cartel boss Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada. . .
Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that the government received in 2019 a request from the United States for the arrest of Guzmán for extradition purposes.
He said that this request would have to be updated and processed, but added that Guzmán will first have an open case in Mexico.
Ismael Bojórquez, director of the local newspaper Riodoce, which specializes in coverage of drug trafficking in the area, said that the violent reaction had to do with the president’s less aggressive stance towards organized crime.
The Mexican Army accompanied the National Guard to protect the prison that holds Ovidio Guzmán
“They (the cartels) have taken advantage of these four years to organize, arm themselves, strengthen their structures, their finances,” he said.
‘I think there are more weapons than three years ago. All the armies of organized crime have been strengthened, not just the little boys, and that is the price that society is paying for this strategy of the federal government.’
At the Culiacán airport, a commercial flight was waiting for its chance to take off as two large military planes landed with troops, three or four military helicopters, and Marines and soldiers began to fan out around the runway perimeter.
As the airline flight was finally preparing to accelerate, passengers heard gunshots in the distance. Within 15 seconds, the sound was suddenly louder and much closer, and passengers fell to the ground, some said.
They said they did not know the plane had been hit by gunfire until a flight attendant told them. No one was injured, but the plane hastily withdrew to the terminal.