At least 29 people died due to the violence unleashed this Thursday in the Mexican state of Sinaloa (north) after the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, one of the sons of Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán most wanted by the US, as revealed this Friday government.
(Also: Will Ovidio Guzmán be extradited to the United States? This is known about his case)
Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval pointed out that of the 29 deceased, a dozen belonged to the Mexican Armed Forces and 19 to the criminal groups that generated the violent disturbances.
(Read here: ‘Master and Lord of Culiacán’, this is how Ovidio Guzmán moved before his capture)
“Ten soldiers lost their lives in the line of duty in order to guarantee security. The Mexican State will give them funeral honors,” he said at the daily press conference of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Sandoval celebrated that, according to current information, no innocent civilians lost their lives.
(See also: This was the life of ‘Alfredillo’, son of ‘Chapo’ Guzmán, in Medellín)
Regarding the balance of injuries, the head of the Army counted 35 soldiers injured by firearms, as well as damage to various land and air vehicles of the Armed Forces. 21 members of organized crime were also arrested, Sandoval explained.
In the operation during and after the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán in the early hours of Thursday, 3,586 members of the Armed Forceswho also faced the violence unleashed in the streets of cities such as Culiacán (capital of Sinaloa), Los Mochis and Mazatlán.
(Also: The singer who had Ovidio Guzmán killed because he did not want to play at his marriage)
López Obrador stressed that the Government acted in a “responsible” manner to “care for the civilian population, so that there were no innocent victims”. In addition, he added that the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha, informed him that the situation in the region is normalizing, after suffering a day of blockades, attacks with bullets and cars set on fire.
“There are no armed groups in Sinaloa, in blockades, that since yesterday are already removing all the cars that were set on fire and that they used to block the streets, practically in the entire city (of Culiacán),” he explained.
The events in Sinaloa have aroused fear in the public because they are reminiscent of the controversial “culiacanazo”an operation in which federal forces arrested Ovidio Guzmán on October 17, 2019, but released him hours later for violent acts by the Sinaloa Cartel.
(You can read: Criminal leader who escaped from Mexican jail dies in shooting)
Ovidio Guzmán was transferred on Thursday night to the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (Cefereso) number 1 Altiplano -also known as the Almoloya prison-, located in the State of Mexico, where his father was detained and from which he escaped in 2015.
‘There was no US intervention’
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, denied this Friday that the United States had participated in the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, one of the sons of Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán most wanted by the US, and that the capture is related to Joe Biden’s visit.
“No (the US participated), I already explained to them. It is a decision that is made and it is routine. The most important thing in our strategy is to prevent people from having to dedicate themselves to crime,” he said in his conference questioned by the participation of US agencies.
It is a decision that is made and it is routine. The most important thing in our strategy is to prevent people from having the need to engage in crime.
“We act autonomously, independently, there is cooperation and it will continue to exist, but We make decisions as a sovereign, independent government, and we make these decisions in the security cabinet,” the president emphasized.
The arrest was surprising as it occurred days before US President Joe Biden’s visit to Mexico on the occasion of the North American Leaders Summit, which opened the door to speculation about the possibility that the arrest of the drug trafficker is directly related to said event.
“About the interpretations, there are many, we respect them, of course we do not share them because we act autonomously,” López Obrador commented in this regard.
From the opposition there was also speculation about the collusion of the Executive with organized crime, before which it defended that the operation was carried out with “righteousness and integrity.” “They can invent whatever they want,” he said.
The Mexican government has acknowledged that there is an extradition request in the United States, which in December 2021 offered 5 million dollars for information for his capture, but has warned that it will not be extradited in a hurry.
Terror
Some of the most dramatic scenes took place at the airport, where a commercial plane was hit by a bullet moments before taking off and passengers had to drop to the ground to get to safety.
Two Air Force aircraft were also hit and had to make emergency landings, revealed Sandoval. The closure of the airport caused the suspension of flights in several cities.
The leader of the “Chapitos”, as the heirs of “Chapo” Guzmán are known, had already been arrested on October 17, 2019 in Culiacán, but was released by order of López Obrador in the middle of a riot by the criminal organization .
The president then defended his decision, stating that a bloodbath was avoided, when military contingents were surrounded by civilians with long weapons.
López Obrador stressed that this time it was “completely different”, since the operation was carried out on the outskirts and not in the heart of Culiacán so as not to put the population at risk.
Founded four decades ago by “El Chapo”, the Sinaloa cartel is considered by the US anti-drug agency DEA as the main person responsible for trafficking fentanyl, a drug 50 times more powerful than heroin and which has caused numerous overdose deaths in that country. .
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE and AFP
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