Ovidio Guzmán López, also known as The mouseson of one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin El Chapo Guzmán, was recaptured on Thursday in an operation carried out by the Federal Forces in Sinaloa, according to local media reports.
In his morning press conference, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed that an operation was carried out in the area, without offering further details.
“There is an operation that started at dawn,” he said.
Later, the Mexican government confirmed the arrest of Guzmán López in the northern state of Sinaloa, as well as his transfer to the country’s capital in an Air Force aircraft.
Luis Cresencio Sandoval, head of the SEDENA National Defense Secretariat, said that Guzmán López is in the facilities of the Specialized Prosecutor for Organized Crime (FEMDO).
“This arrest represents a forceful blow to the Pacific Cartel. The attacks by the criminal organization continue,” said the official.
Violent acts
After the fact, there have been acts of violence that have paralyzed the capital of Sinaloa, in northwest Mexico.
“I have been informed by the Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López, that the Federal Armed Forces have been carrying out [de] this Thursday an operation in the union of Jesús María, municipality of Culiacán,” said the governor of the State of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya.
The operation has generated violent events in the capital and other places in the state, said the official. “It will be the federal authority itself that will report the results of said operation once it is finished,” he added, and asked to remain calm and take shelter.
Aeroméxico reported in a statement that one of its aircraft was attacked. “This morning a bullet impact was detected in the rifle of an Embraer 190 team that was ready to operate flight AM156 on the Culiacán-Mexico City route, which was canceled for security reasons,” the airline reported on social networks. .
A video posted on social networks shows how the plane’s passengers crouch down, while shots are heard.
According to the US embassy in Mexico, which issued a security alert, there are reports of shootings not only in the capital but also in the cities of Los Mochis and Guasave, in the north of the state.
All flights delayed or canceled until after noon appear on the Culiacán airport website and Aeroméxico reported the cancellation of operations also in Los Mochis and Mazatlán.
″Don’t leave the house!”, published the city council on its social networks. “The security of the citizens of Culiacán is the most important thing.”
Guzmán López, who became a key figure in the cartel after his father’s arrest in 2016, he was arrested in October 2019 by the security forces, but quickly released to avoid “bloodshed” by his henchmen, officials said at the time, in an embarrassing setback for Mexican authorities.
Since 2018, the 32-year-old man has been wanted by the US authorities for flooding that country with fentanyl, a powerful chemical drug that has triggered an epidemic of deaths in the United States. Washington is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
[Con información de Reuters y AP]
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