The access and arrest by Mexican security forces took place on Thursday in the city of Culiacan, which has a population of around 800,000. Gang members then blocked numerous roads with burning cars and fought with police and armed forces. Among other things, they fired at incoming military aircraft at the airport, as Defense Minister Sandoval said. Soldiers, in turn, shot suspects on the ground from helicopters.
Around 4,500 soldiers were deployed to the region to bring the situation under control. According to the Ministry of Defence, these included special forces and paratroopers. According to Sandoval, the arrest of Ovidio Guzman was preceded by a six-month surveillance operation to track down the 32-year-old.
After his arrest, Guzman was transferred to the high-security Altiplano prison west of Mexico City — the same prison his father escaped from in 2015.
Bounty offered in the millions
Guzman, nicknamed “El Raton” (The Mouse), is said to have helped run his father’s drug business after “El Chapo’s” extradition to the United States in 2017. Founded four decades ago by “El Chapo”, the Sinaloa cartel is one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico.
Ovidio Guzman is the best known of the four Guzman sons. According to investigators, his brothers Joaquin, Ivan Archivaldo and Jesus Alfredo are also involved in drug smuggling. US authorities have accused Ovidio Guzman of smuggling cocaine, crystal meth and cannabis into the United States. According to US investigators, he is also said to have ordered the killing of a police informant, a drug dealer and a prominent singer who refused to perform at his wedding reception.
The US government has offered a $5 million reward for the capture of Ovidio Guzman. However, according to Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, there will be no quick extradition of Guzman to the United States. Rather, the 32-year-old should be tried in Mexico.
Memories of 2019
According to media reports, a head of contract killers from the Sinaloa cartel was also arrested in addition to Guzman. Guzman was arrested in Culiacan in October 2019 but was later released on the orders of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador after gang members gathered and threatened security forces.
The left-leaning president justified his decision at the time by saying that he wanted to prevent a bloodbath. The government of the state of Sinaloa has now called on the population to stay at home. Lessons and a soccer game were cancelled.
Drugs issue at North America Summit
US President Joe Biden is expected to visit Mexico in a few days and will meet, among other things, Mexico’s President Lopez Obrador and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a summit in Mexico City. According to the White House, central issues are, in addition to migration and climate protection, the fight against organized drug trafficking.
Drug war escalates in Mexico
After Ovidio Guzman – son of the notorious drug lord “El Chapo” – was arrested in Mexico, suspected gang members fight fiercely with security forces. One police officer has been killed so far and 18 others injured.
Cartels big in fentanyl trade
At the end of the previous year, the US drug police DEA drew a shocking balance sheet: theoretically, all of the approximately 333 million inhabitants of the USA could have been killed with the amount of fentanyl seized in 2022 alone.
According to the DEA, its priority is to dismantle two Mexican drug cartels – the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels. They are primarily responsible for the fentanyl. Most of the fentanyl traded by the two cartels is made in secret factories in Mexico using chemicals mostly sourced in China.
Drivers of the opioid crisis
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin. It’s a driver of the opioid crisis in the US, killing tens of thousands every year. It is estimated that around 108,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2021, up 17 percent from the year before.
Pharmaceutical fentanyl is approved for the treatment of severe pain, usually associated with advanced cancer. However, illegally manufactured fentanyl is sold illegally because of its heroin-like effects, and is often mixed with heroin or other drugs such as cocaine, or compressed into counterfeit prescription pills.
