Drug lord El Chapo's son killed 29 in Mexico

At least 29 people have died in a bloody operation to arrest the son of Mexican drug lord El Chapo, Mexican authorities say. Writes more about it with the BBC.

Photo: IStock

Ovidio Guzmán-López, 32, who became the leader of his father's former cartel, was captured in Culiacan and taken to Mexico City on Thursday, January 5.

His detention sparked riots in Mexico. During and after the arrest, 10 military and 19 civilians were killed, who were suspected of having links with the cartel.

Enraged gang members set up roadblocks, set fire to dozens of cars and attacked planes at the local airport.

Defense Minister Luis Cresensio Sandoval said on Friday, January 6, that 35 more soldiers were injured and 21 armed assailants were arrested.

Guzmán-López, whose nickname is The Mouse, was taken out by helicopter and taken to the capital, after which he was sent to a maximum security federal prison.

He ran his father's notorious Sinaloa cartel, one of the world's largest drug-trafficking organizations.

His father, Joaquin El Chapo Guzmán, is serving a life sentence in the US after being convicted in 2019 of drug trafficking and money laundering. During his trial, some brutal details of the activities of the Mexican drug cartels were revealed.

According to Sandoval, the six-month operation to capture Guzmán-López was carried out with the support of the United States.

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The US has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction, as well as three of his brothers, who are also believed to have retained their leadership positions in the cartel.

But Mexican President Andres López Obrador assures that Guzmán-López's extradition to the United States is not planned in the near future.

The operation, which began in Culiacan (Sinaloa) in northwestern Mexico, sparked a wave of violence from armed members of the cartel.

As a result of its conduct, dozens of vehicles were set on fire, two planes at Sinaloa airports were hit by fire from the cartel. Therefore, more than 100 flights were canceled at local airports.

According to Defense Minister Sandoval, two Mexican Air Force aircraft were forced to make an emergency landing after they were fired upon by a drug cartel formation. Combat helicopters were deployed to support the ground operation by the authorities.

President López Obrador said the Mexican forces acted responsibly: caring for the civilian population, avoiding innocent victims. Information about civilian casualties has not yet been received.

About a thousand more troops are sent to Sinaloa to help with the necessary security measures in this situation.

Video on social media shows burning buses blocking roads in Culiacan.

Justin Goldbas, 32, was on her way home to Los Angeles with her husband and eight-year-old son, riding a bus through Sinaloa shortly before the riots began on Thursday.

They were soon informed that the bus was "under threat" and the driver was advised to "stop and hide." The bus sat in the middle of the road for 16 hours in Caborca, in the neighboring state of Sonora, before being allowed to drive again.

“Everyone was scared, people were scared,” Justine said. “Our bus just passed the place where all this happened. If we had stayed for 30 minutes, we would have been in the midst of what happened.”

“We saw the security forces. Some of them were rushing in cars, others in armored personnel carriers, traveling south. It was probably a little far away from us, but close enough to see a lot of people driving quickly in the opposite direction,” she added.

Mexican airline Aeromexico said the fuselage of the plane, which was about to fly from Culiacan to Mexico City, was struck by fire as it was preparing to take off.

It is noted that none of the passengers and employees were injured. In the footage posted to social media, passengers can be seen crouching and hiding behind their seats.

“As we were accelerating for takeoff, we heard shots very close to the plane. Then everyone threw themselves on the floor,” said one of the passengers on the flight, David Tellez.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Mexico next week for a summit of North American leaders.

He will arrive on Sunday, a day earlier than expected, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in a tweet. The reasons why the American leader will arrive earlier are unknown.

All schools in the state of Sinaloa were closed on January 6th.

Mexican security forces previously arrested Guzman-Lopez in 2019, but released him to avoid the threat of violence from his supporters.

The US State Department says he and his brother Joaquin now control about 11 methamphetamine labs in the state of Sinaloa, producing between 1,3 and 2,2 tons of the drug per month.

In addition, law enforcement has evidence that Guzmán-López ordered the murders of informants, a drug dealer and a popular Mexican singer who refused to sing at his wedding.

El Chapo

Joaquín Guzmán was the head of one of the most powerful Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa, which accounted for a quarter of all drug trafficking in the US through Mexico.

For the first time, El Chapo (Shorty) was arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and was held in a specially guarded prison in Puente Grande, from where he managed to escape in 2001 by hiding in a laundry basket.

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He was at large for 13 years, then he was arrested again. The second time, Guzman Sr. escaped from a Mexican prison in the summer of 2015, using a tunnel dug especially for him with lighting, ventilation and stairs.

Joaquin spent six months on the run, but in January 2016 he was again detained. In 2017, Mexico only agreed to extradite the drug dealer after U.S. prosecutors promised that Guzmán would not face the death penalty. On July 17, 2019, Shorty was sentenced by an American court to life imprisonment and another 30 years in prison.

From 2009 to 2011, Guzman was ranked 41st, 55th and 60th, respectively, in the list of the most powerful people in the world according to Forbes magazine. At the same time, he was the second most influential person in Mexico after Carlos Slim (a Mexican businessman of Lebanese origin, the son of Maronite emigrants from Lebanon; a billionaire, one of the richest people on the planet).

Since the death of Osama bin Laden, Guzmán has become the most wanted man in the world. In 2011, according to Forbes, Joaquin took first place in the list of the most wanted criminals in the world. Joaquin began his “career” as a drug dealer as a “student” of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo.

In 2011, Guzman entered the list of billionaires (according to Forbes) at number 1140. The magazine estimated the fortune of the drug lord at $ 1 billion US dollars and called him "the largest drug trafficker in history." According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Guzman surpassed Pablo Escobar in terms of influence and fortune.

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