Northwestern Mexican city under siege after El Chapo’s son is captured

[wing2000]

Ahead of President Biden's visit to Mexico next Monday, Mexican authorities have arrested a major cartel leader. His arrest led to widespread violence in the state of Sinaloa. A work colleague from Mexico told me authorities were forced to close the airport in Culiacan after commercial aircraft were threatened by gun fire.

The son of a notorious drug lord has been captured in the northwestern city of Culiacán, leading to an eruption of violence throughout the city.

Ovidio Guzmán López, a son of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, has been captured and transported to Mexico City to be charged, according to officials.

Schools have been closed, government workers told to stay home and both the Culiacán and Mazatlán airports have been shut down. The U.S. Embassy has issued a security alert, and Sonoran officials announced they are upping security at the border with Sinaloa.

This is the second time Ovidio Guzman has been arrested. Three years ago, security forces were forced to release him amid the violent retaliation for his capture.


Account of a Mexican family traveling from the impacted airport in Culiacan.

Northwestern Mexican city under siege after El Chapo’s son is captured for the 2nd time

The son of a notorious drug lord has been captured in the northwestern city of Culiacán, leading to an eruption of violence throughout the city.Ovidio Guzmán López, a son of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, has been captured and transported to Mexico City to be...

fronterasdesk.org

 

[wing2000]

Cartel using .50-caliber machine guns....10 Mexican soldiers killed. The Mexican government has sent 4,000 soldiers to Sinaloa to contain the violence.


MEXICO CITY — At least 29 people were killed in the battle to arrest alleged drug trafficker Ovidio Guzmán, Mexican authorities revealed Friday, underscoring the enduring power of the cartel once dominated by his father, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Army and national guard troops detained the younger Guzmán, 32, on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Culiacán on Thursday. Seven soldiers were killed as Sinaloa cartel gunmen fired .50-caliber machine guns to fend off troops trying to arrest Guzmán and others in an armored convoy, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said at a news conference.

The resistance was so intense that the military had to call in helicopter gunships, he said. All told, 10 soldiers were killed during the arrest and in fighting that erupted across Sinaloa state afterward, including an army colonel who was ambushed in the town of Escuinapa, about 140 miles south of Culiacán, authorities said. Nineteen alleged cartel fighters were also killed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/06/mexico-arrest-ovidio-guzman-biden/