Son of drug lord El Chapo arrested in Mexico

Gang crime in Mexico

After the arrest of the drug lord in the city of Culiacán, criminals blocked buses and trucks on the streets and set the vehicles on fire.

(Photo: dpa)

Mexico City,. Culiacan Access was at dawn. In the village of Jesús Maria, 35 kilometers north of Culiacán, the Sinaloa state capital, units of the Mexican Navy and National Guard arrested Ovidio Guzmán, one of the sons of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, on Thursday.

Guzmán junior, nicknamed “El Ratón” (the mouse), is one of the leading figures in the Sinaloa cartel. Ovidio, along with his brothers Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo, leads “Los Chapitos” (“Little Chapos”), one of the most powerful factions of Mexico’s largest crime syndicate.

After the arrest, suspected gang members and security forces fought for hours in the northwest of the country. Criminals blocked buses and trucks on the streets of the city of Culiacan and set the vehicles on fire, television broadcasts showed on Thursday. Numerous shots were heard. The authorities counted 19 so-called “narcobloqueos”, narco-blockades.

Armed forces attacked the airport and a barracks, among other things, said Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval. In view of the clashes, Governor Rubén Rocha Moya called on people in Sinaloa to stay in their homes. Schools, public buildings and the Culiacan airport have been closed. The US Embassy in Mexico advised against travel to Sinaloa. The government ordered a day off. hospitals closed.

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According to the governor, at least one member of the National Guard was killed and about 30 others injured, mostly military, in the fighting.

First arrest already in 2019

According to US information, the Chapitos produce up to 2,200 kilos of the synthetic drug fentanyl every month and smuggle most of it into the United States. They are said to operate about eleven laboratories for the production of artificial drugs. Guzmán is said to have ordered the killings of informants, rivals and a singer who refused to sing at his wedding.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez

He had already been arrested once in 2019, but was later released by order of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

(Photo: AP)

He was arrested once before in 2019 but later released by order of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to stop heavy fighting between criminals and security forces.

Ovidio Guzmán has now been taken to Mexico City and turned over to the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office. The US State Department put a $5 million bounty on his head. Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard has now said, however, that Guzmán will at least not be immediately extradited to the United States. A Washington court charged him with drug smuggling in 2018.

Next week, Mexican President López Obrador, US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet in Mexico City for the North America Summit. One of the topics at the meeting in the Mexican capital will also be the common security policy.

>> Read here: Fentanyl is the number one death drug – US opioid crisis is taking on dramatic proportions

Guzman’s father “El Chapo” was one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world. The former head of the Sinaloa cartel smuggled tons of cocaine and heroin into the US and made billions from it.

He is also said to have been responsible for up to 3,000 murders. He twice broke out of maximum security prisons in Mexico. After his last arrest, he was extradited to the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment.

With agency material

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