Mexico captures son of drug kingpin El Chapo

The arrest of Ovidio Guzman — nicknamed The Mouse — sparks violence across Sinaloa state.

A burnt-out truck in Culiacan marks the arrest of Ovidio Guzman on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Mexican security forces have captured the son of former cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, in an operation on the outskirts of the Sinaloa state capital, Culiacan, days before US President Joe Biden visits the country.

The operation by National Guard and army troops to capture Ovidio Guzman prompted Sinaloa cartel members to go on a statewide rampage, burning buses and trucks, staging shootouts at the Culiacan airport, and blocking entrances and exits to the city.

Ovidio Guzman, nicknamed El Raton (The Mouse), was flown by military plane to Mexico City, where he was being held at facilities of the federal Attorney-General’s office, Defence Secretary Luis Crescencio Sandoval said on Thursday.

The 32-year-old had allegedly helped to run his father’s operations since El Chapo (Shorty) was extradited to the US in 2017. He is serving life at Colorado Supermax, the most secure federal prison in America.

General Sandoval said that following the 32-year-old’s arrest, members of the criminal organisation set up 19 roadblocks in Culiacan and carried out attacks, including at the airport and a military air base. Mexican flagship airline Aeromexico said a bullet hit the fuselage of an Embraer 190 plane that was due to fly from Culiacan to Mexico City. The flight was cancelled, and no passengers or crew were hurt.

Analysts said Guzman’s capture risks sparking more violence as the Sinaloa cartel would have to respond to show strength. Any sign of weakness would invite attacks from rival gangs, such as the Jalisco cartel with which the Sinaloa competes for markets.

Ovidio Guzman on his arrest in 2019. Picture: AFP

Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha called on people to stay at home as violence continued in the state on Thursday. “There are still armed men who can take your car and use it to make a barricade,” Mr Rocha said.

Mr Rocha said there were no reports of fatalities. He said 18 people were taken to hospitals, most of them soldiers or police and three or four suspected cartel gunmen.

“There’s a lot of lead flying,” said the operator of a laboratory that makes fentanyl for the Sinaloa cartel, reached by telephone.

The operator said he didn’t expect Guzman’s capture to affect the drug trade. “He will just be replaced by somebody else,” he said.

General Sandoval said the capture followed six months of intelligence work and tracking where Guzman was known to ­operate.

He said the guard moved quickly after spotting vehicles with homemade armour. They co-ordinated with the army, establishing a perimeter around the vehicles and forcing the occupants out. The security forces came under fire but were able to take Guzman into custody.

Guzman was briefly captured by soldiers in Culiacan in 2019, but quickly freed by the government after hundreds of cartel gunmen flooded the city, fighting the soldiers and threatening to attack their families at a military housing project. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he had ordered Guzman’s release to prevent a bloodbath.

Mr Lopez Obrador, a long-time critic of the war on drugs, rejected the strategy of direct confrontation with the cartels after he took office in 2018. He called instead for addressing the poverty and social inequality he blames for much of the violence, a policy he dubbed “hugs, not bullets”. This second capture of Guzman marks an end of that strategy, which was widely criticised, said Raul Benítez, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

The capture comes as Mr Lopez Obrador is set to meet with Mr Biden on Monday in Mexico City to discuss bilateral issues such as security, trade and migration.

The US said Guzman had ordered the murders of informants, including a popular Mexican singer who had refused to sing at his wedding.

The Wall Street Journal