MEXICO CITY, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Nineteen suspected gang members and 10 military personnel were killed in a wave of violence surrounding the arrest of Mexican drug cartel boss Ovidio Guzman in Sinaloa state. Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said on Friday.
Mexican security forces captured Guzman, the 32-year-old son of jailed kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, early Thursday morning, sparking hours of unrest and shootouts with gang members, the minister said.
Guzmán was taken by helicopter from the house where he was caught and flown to Mexico City, before being transferred to a maximum-security federal prison, Sandoval added.
The arrest spurred the powerful Sinaloa cartel – once headed by El Chapo himself – to shoot, burn vehicles, block roads and battle security forces in and around Culiacan, Sinaloa’s capital.
Twenty-one more people were arrested during Thursday’s operations, Sandoval told a news conference, adding that there were no reports of civilian deaths.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said there were no immediate plans to extradite Ovidio to the United States, where his father is in a maximum-security prison after being extradited in 2017 and found guilty in a New York court.
“The elements (of the case) must be presented and the judges of Mexico must decide,” said the president. “It’s a process. … It’s not just the petition.” No US forces had assisted in the capture of Ovidio, López Obrador said.
An enhanced security presence will now be maintained in Sinaloa, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, to protect the public, with an additional 1,000 military personnel traveling to the region today, Sandoval said.
Passengers on an Aeromexico passenger flight at Culiacan airport ducked under their seats as gunfire rang out on the runway Thursday.
“As we were speeding up for takeoff, we heard gunshots very close to the plane, and that’s when we all fell to the ground,” said passenger David Tellez. Aeromexico said one of its planes was hit by gunfire in Culiacan, but no one was injured.
The airport was due to reopen on Friday after being closed due to the violence.
In 2019, a failed operation to arrest Ovidio ended in humiliation for the López Obrador government. Security forces then briefly detained Ovidio, prompting a violent backlash from cartel loyalists and prompting authorities to quickly release him to avoid the threat of further reprisals from his henchmen.
His latest arrest comes ahead of a summit of US leaders in Mexico City next week, which will be attended by US President Joe Biden. Security cooperation must be on the agenda.
THE QUESTION OF EXTRADITION
The United States has been seeking Guzman’s extradition for years.
In 2021, the State Department announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
Guzman, known by the nickname “The Mouse”, has been charged in the United States with conspiracy to traffic cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States. The State Department said it monitored meth labs in Sinaloa responsible for producing “between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds” of the drug a month.
The State Department also said information indicated he had ordered several murders, including that of a popular Mexican singer who had refused to perform at his wedding.
Rising flows of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States, where it has caused record overdose deaths, have increased pressure to capture Guzman.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration believes the Sinaloa cartel, along with another gang, is responsible for most of the fentanyl inside the United States.
Additional reporting by Dave Graham Editing by Alistair Bell
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.