Many of the Latin American countries including Mexico have a long history of drug peddlers controlling the society, and the common citizens while holding ransom the elected government. Drug peddlers are a potent force in these countries. The recent arrest of drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, son of jailed kingpin Joaquin El Chapo has created widespread turmoil in the Mexican city of Culiacan’. It is understood that the recent arrests have been made as a preemptive measure ahead of US President Biden’s visit to ensure Washington that Mexico is serious against drug peddlers.
Mexican security forces captured on Thursday drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, ahead of the visit by US President Joe Biden next week.
A fugitive ‘Ovidio’ was evading arrest for last three years
The irony remains that the authorities failed to arrest the kingpin, the drug lord Ovidio in the last three years even after having sufficient evidence of his culpability for the drug crime. Unfortunately for the country, the arrest triggered a wave of violence that forced authorities to shutter airports and schools in the city of Culiacan.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval told a news conference that security forces had captured the 32-year-old senior member of the Sinaloa Cartel. Ovidio, a fugitive since the previous arrest attempt, was now being held in the capital Mexico City, Sandoval said.
Violent clashes have started in Culiacan after drug kingpin Ovidio’s arrest
Videos shared on social media, which international media were unable to immediately verify, appeared to show heavy fighting overnight in Culiacan, the main city in the northern state of Sinaloa, with the sky lit up by helicopter gunfire.
The Sinaloa state government said two members of the security forces had been killed in the clashes.
The city’s airport was caught up in the violence, with Mexican airline Aeromexico saying one of its planes had been hit by gunfire ahead of a scheduled flight to Mexico City. No one was hurt, however.
Mexican Air-force plane was also shot at by the drug mafia
A Mexican air force plane was also shot at, Mexico’s federal aviation agency said, adding that the airport in Culiacan, as well as in the Sinaloa cities of Mazatlan and Los Mochis, would remain closed until security could be ensured.
Ovidio, who has become a key figure in the cartel since the arrest of his father, was briefly detained in 2019 but was quickly released to end violent retribution in Culiacan from his cartel. The incident was an embarrassing setback for the government of Lopez Obrador.
A $5 million fugitive ‘Ovidio’s’ arrest comes just before Biden’s visit
His latest capture comes before a North American leaders’ summit in Mexico City next week, which US President Joe Biden will attend and at which security issues are on the agenda.
US has offered a $5 million reward for the arrest of Ovidio
The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ovidio.It is not yet clear whether Ovidio will be extradited to the United States like his father, who is serving a life sentence at Colorado’s Supermax, the most secure US federal prison.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said any extradition would have to follow formal processes and would not be immediate.The cartel is significantly one of the world’s most powerful narcotics trafficking organizations.
Guzman’s arrest is a face-saving device for Mexican law enforcement following the escape of El Chapo’s son in 2019. The detention of Ovidio is finally the culmination of something that was planned three years ago.
RESIDENTS ARE URGED TO STAY INDOORS
On Thursday morning, security forces were attempting to contain a violent reaction to the arrest in the Culiacan area by Guzman’s associates.
Burned vehicles were scattered on the streets and heavily armed law enforcement patrolled in pickup trucks.
The local government urged people to stay indoors and said schools and administrative offices were closed due to the violence. Street blockades had also been erected.
Joaquin Guzman, 65, was convicted in New York in 2019 of trafficking billions of dollars of drugs to the United States and conspiring to murder enemies.
US pressure might have acted upon going against Guzman
Eduardo Guerrero, director of Lantia Consulting which analyzes Mexican organized crime, said that recent pressure from the Biden administration to target the Sinaloa Cartel had likely motivated Mexico to go after Guzman.
But he warned that while Ovidio’s capture was likely to weaken that cartel, it could help their main rival, the notoriously violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
With the arrest of Ovidio the rival gangs may get emboldened
“It’s very important the government bear in mind that the weakening of the Sinaloa Cartel may also bring about an even greater expansion, a greater presence of the Jalisco Cartel.”
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