He’s a real Chapo off the old block.
Ovidio Guzmán-López, the son of infamous cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was transferred to a maximum-security Mexican prison on Thursday — just hours after his arrest triggered an outbreak of gang violence that killed seven people.
After being captured in the Jesús María district of the northwestern city of Culiacán and an initial transfer to Mexico City, Excelsior reported that Guzmán-López was flown by helicopter to Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1, or “Altiplano,” a maximum-security facility near Toluca.
Nicknamed “El Ratón,” or “The Mouse,” Guzmán-López, 32, is believed to be a high-ranking faction leader within his father’s notorious Sinaloa cartel. The US State Department previously promised a $5 million reward for information on his whereabouts.
Ovidio Guzmán López after his arrest by the Mexican army.
Ovidio Guzmán-López, 32, son of notorious cartel kingpin El Chapo, was arrested on Thursday. ZUMAPRESS.com
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, President of Mexico, during a morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, following the recapture of Ovidio Guzman. ZUMAPRESS.comNews of his arrest subsequently sparked a wave of violent protests as furious gang members in Culiacán, Los Mochis, and Guasave established roadblocks, set vehicles alight, and opened fire on local airports.
Footage from a plane at Culiacán International Airport shows terrified passengers ducking to avoid gunshots during a shootout on the runway. According to the BBC, more than 100 flights were canceled at three airports in the region.
A burning car is seen on the street during an operation to arrest the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Ovidio Guzman. AFP via Getty ImagesSinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha also issued a shelter-in-place warning as a spate of looting and carjackings forced businesses throughout the state to temporarily close.
An armored vehicle was used to move Guzmán-López into Mexico City on Thursday. AP
Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha issued a shelter-in-place warning. Arturo Hernandez / Eyepix Group/“I don’t know what a war zone is like, but I think it’s the same thing [as this],” Roberto, a Culiacán resident, told El Pais on Thursday. He was one of many who had their vehicles stolen at gunpoint.
By the end of the day, Rocha confirmed that seven security force members, including a colonel, were killed in the violence. Twenty-one injuries were also reported, seven of them civilians.
El Pais noted that Thursday’s carnage was similar to the violence that followed Guzmán-López’s first arrest in 2019. In that instance, members of the Sinaloa Cartel faction Los Chapitos were able to force his release using threats of widespread civilian casualties.
Firefighters extinguish a vehicle set on fire by members of a drug gang as a barricade. REUTERSGuzmán-López’s latest capture notably comes just one week before President Biden is set to visit Mexico and meet with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, prompting some experts to question the optics of the arrest.
“I am suspicious that [Guzmán-López’s] capture occurred days before President Biden’s visit to Mexico,” Robert Almonte, a Texas-based security consultant and former El Paso narcotics investigator, told The Post on Thursday.
“This goes to show that the Mexican government can find and arrest the cartel leaders if they really want to.”
A heavily armed convoy departs the prosecutor’s building. APGuzmán-López’s father, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, was once the most powerful drug trafficker and most wanted fugitive in the world. He is serving a life sentence at a Colorado federal prison after a jury convicted him of 10 counts, including criminal enterprise and cocaine distribution, in 2019.
Guzmán-López has reportedly been involved in his father’s nefarious business since his teen years. Together with his brother, Joaquín, he is thought to control 11 methamphetamine labs in Sinaloa that produce up to 5,000 pounds of the deadly drug per month.
With Post wires
