CNN
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Mexican authorities have arrested Ovidio Guzmán, son of infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, a supply from the federal authorities of Mexico informed CNN, in a dramatic operation within the northern state of Sinaloa on Thursday that led to clashes across the metropolis of Culiacán.
Guzmán is described as “a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel” in a press launch issued by america State Division on December 16, previous to his arrest.
He was beforehand arrested by federal authorities in October 2019, however was launched on the orders of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to keep away from additional bloodshed.
Chaos broke out within the metropolis round Guzmán’s arrest on Thursday, with native officers telling residents to shelter at residence amid clashes with cartel members in numerous elements of Culiacán.
Social media movies seem to point out vans on hearth and intense taking pictures close to the airport, which was closed for a lot of the day as a result of violence. CNN has not but verified these movies.
Passengers appeared to crouch for canopy in an Aeromexico aircraft based on video shared on social media, which was hit by a bullet whereas grounded in Culiacán.
No accidents had been reported, stated Aeromexico, which has canceled all its operations to and from the Sinaloan cities of Culiacan, Los Mochis and Mazatlan.
Culiacán Worldwide Airport closed after Guzmán’s arrest for safety causes, airport authorities stated on their Twitter account.
In a morning handle on Thursday, President López Obrador stated the operation in Culiacán had been underway since daybreak.
Because the arrest unfolded, Sinaloa Secretary of Public Safety Cristóbal Castañeda stated that autos had been being looted and blockades “are going down in numerous elements of the town” as he requested the general public to not depart the town.
The state’s schooling secretary additionally introduced that college and administrative actions had been suspended in Culiacán and urged those that are in a danger space to take refuge in a protected place.
The state of Sinaloa is residence to the Sinaloa Cartel, one of many world’s strongest narcotics trafficking organizations. “El Chapo” was the chief of the cartel earlier than he was sentenced to life in jail in 2020.
The arrest comes days earlier than US President Joe Biden and Canadian President Justin Trudeau go to Mexico Metropolis to attend the North American Leaders Summit.
Capturing Guzmán may very well be a manner for López Obrador to point out the US that he’s “in command of the armed forces and Mexico’s safety scenario,” Gladys McCormick, a affiliate professor at Syracuse College who focuses on Mexico-U.S. relations, informed CNN in an electronic mail.
“It additionally defuses the ability behind any ask from the Biden administration to stem the tide of fentanyl and different narcotics throughout the border,” she added.
The State Division, which was providing a $5 million reward for data resulting in Guzman’s arrest, wrote that regulation enforcement investigations indicated that Guzmán and his brother, Joaquín Guzmán-López, “inherited an excessive amount of the narcotics proceeds” following the demise of one other brother, Edgar Guzmán-López.
They “started investing massive quantities of the money into the buying of marijuana in Mexico and cocaine in Colombia. In addition they started buying massive quantities of ephedrine from Argentina and organized for the smuggling of the product into Mexico as they started to experiment with methamphetamine manufacturing,” the State Division stated.
The brothers are additionally alleged to supervise an estimated 11 “methamphetamine labs within the state of Sinaloa,” the State Division says.
Their father “El Chapo” Guzmán was convicted within the US in 2019 of 10 counts, together with participating in a unbroken legal enterprise, drug trafficking and firearms prices. He was sentenced to life in jail plus 30 years and ordered to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture.