Daily Times

Ten soldiers and 19 suspected criminals were killed in an operation to arrest the son of jailed drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico’s government said Friday, with a dramatic shootout sowing terror at an airport. Thousands of soldiers retook control of the Sinaloa cartel stronghold of Culiacan, which resembled a war zone after furious gunmen went on the rampage to try to free their boss. Ovidio Guzman was captured in the northwestern city on Thursday and flown to Mexico City before being transferred to the high-security Altiplano prison in central Mexico from which “El Chapo” once escaped.

The 32-year-old, nicknamed “El Raton” (The Mouse), had allegedly helped to run his father’s operations since the former Sinaloa cartel boss was extradited to the United States in 2017. A colonel who commanded an infantry battalion was among those killed after his team came under attack following the arrest, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval told reporters. Another 35 soldiers sustained gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital, while 21 gunmen were arrested.

Sandoval said a civilian airliner that was about to take off from Culiacan International Airport, as well as two Mexican Air Force aircraft, were hit by gunfire as cartel henchmen tried to free Ovidio Guzman. The military planes “had to make an emergency landing” after receiving “a significant number of impacts,” said Sandoval. No injuries resulted from the plane attacks and Culiacan airport resumed operations on Friday. The United States had issued a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Ovidio Guzman’s capture. It accuses him of being a key player in the Sinaloa cartel founded by his father.

The arrest came as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador prepared to welcome his US counterpart Joe Biden for a North America leaders’ summit next week where security is expected to be high on the agenda. The drug trafficker’s detention was “not an insignificant accomplishment by Mexican authorities,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “And we’re certainly grateful for that,” he said, adding that the United States would keep working “in lockstep” with Mexico, notably to tackle trafficking of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. Mexico denied that the United States had been involved in the operation to catch Ovidio Guzman. “We act autonomously, independently. Yes there is cooperation and there will continue to be, but we make the decisions as a sovereign government,” Lopez Obrador told reporters. Ovidio Guzman secured a court order blocking his immediate extradition to the United States. In any case, Mexico’s government ruled out a fast-track extradition, saying the proper legal process would be followed. Authorities said calm had returned to Culiacan, where security forces removed dozens of stolen and burnt out vehicles scattered throughout the city of 800,000 people.