Violence spree follows arrest of El Chapo son in Mexico

Authorities in Mexico on Thursday captured 32-year-old Ovidio Guzmán, the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and a prominent cartel figure in his own right. 

The arrest operation was launched early on Thursday morning and resulted in an armed confrontation between authorities and gang members. Officials told local residents to remain at home, and multiple flights to the city’s airport were canceled. Shootings and road blockades by cartels were reported across Sinaloa state.

At least two planes — an Aeromexico Embraer E190 operating a commercial flight with passengers onboard and a security forces plane — were reportedly shot on the local airport’s runway.

Ovidio Guzmán’s last detention in 2019 was followed by a wave of violence in Sinaloa, with gunmen torching cars and kidnapping security agents. At the time, AMLO said that “if the operation hadn’t been suspended, another 200 innocent people would lose their lives in Culiacán.”

The Mexican National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) confirmed the arrest, which took place in the northwestern Sinaloan city of Culiacán. It came “after six months of surveillance.” 

Per Sedena boss Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Mr. Guzmán has been transferred to Mexico City. Culiacán is considered a key base of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel. 

Placing El Chapo’s son behind bars is a necessary win for the government, with AMLO’s security policies coming under fire. 

Security data show a 10-percent decrease in murder rates in the first half of last year compared to the same period in 2021. But homicides still remain at a significantly higher level than six years ago. Indeed, in 22 of Mexico’s 32 states, murder rates are higher now than they were in 2016. In a hail-mary strategy, AMLO recently began supporting extending the Armed Forces’ security mandate until 2028. 

U.S. courts sentenced El Chapo to life in prison in 2019, after a three-month trial in New York that eviscerated the inner workings of the Sinaloa cartel. Ovidio gained a more prominent role within the organization after his father was extradited to the U.S. Ovidio is wanted by the U.S. Department of State for drug trafficking, as was his father before his capture.

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