Fierce battles in Mexico as arrest of El Chapo's son goes wrong

CULIACAN, Mexico - Heavily armed gunmen waged an all-out battle against Mexican security forces Thursday as soldiers arrested -- then reportedly released -- a son of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in his home state, Sinaloa.

Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said soldiers on a routine afternoon patrol came under fire from a residence in the state capital, Culiacan.

He said they responded by taking the house and detaining four people inside, including Ovidio Guzman, one of several sons of "El Chapo" who have partly taken over the Sinaloa cartel since he was extradited to the United States in 2017.

Cartel gunmen then "surrounded the house, outnumbering the soldiers," and began a massive assault on various parts of the city, Durazo said.

That triggered an hours-long battle that left blazing vehicles strewn across the street and sent terrified residents running for shelter.

"In order to protect the greater good, the people of Culiacan's safety and well-being, the (federal government's) security cabinet decided to suspend said actions," Durazo said in a video message.

According to Mexican media reports, that included freeing Ovidio Guzman.

Neither Durazo nor President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's office immediately responded to requests for further information, and details on the day's incidents remained murky.

Durazo said the security cabinet would travel to Culiacan to personally oversee the next steps. Officials were due to give a press conference in the western city at 6:45 am (1245 GMT) Friday.

Images carried on Mexican television showed army and police personnel under assault by men armed with heavy weapons.

Some panicked drivers abandoned their cars in the middle of the street to take cover from the deafening gunfire.

Gunmen blocked roads and highways into the evening, bringing the city of 750,000 people to a standstill, AFP journalists said.

Sources in the Sinaloa state government speaking on condition of anonymity said police officers had been wounded.

They also said an unknown number of inmates had escaped from the Aguaruto prison in Culiacan amid the chaos.

The state government said it was "working to restore calm and order in the face of the high-impact incidents that have occurred in recent hours in various points around Culiacan."

It called on residents to "remain calm, stay off the streets and be very attentive to official advisories on the evolving situation."

Dire security situation

"El Chapo," 62, was sentenced to life in prison in July for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States over the course of a quarter-century.

However, his cartel remains one of the most powerful in Mexico.

Guzman's extradition unleashed an initial period of instability in the group, as Ovidio and his brothers waged war with cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada for control, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.

But the situation has since stabilized into a reluctant truce.

Guzman, whose nickname means "Shorty," was re-arrested in 2016 after a brazen prison escape -- the second of his career.

He is considered the most powerful drug lord since Colombia's Pablo Escobar, who was killed in a police shootout in 1993.

After being convicted in a New York court, "El Chapo" is now serving a life sentence in the notorious ADX federal maximum security prison in Colorado.

Ovidio and his brothers have tried to fill their father's shoes, but anti-narcotics experts portray them as flashy party boys who have little ability to run the business side of the cartel.

Reports that Ovidio had been arrested and then freed triggered harsh criticism of Obrador's security strategy.

The leftist leader, who took office in December 2018, has struggled to rein in the brutal violence racking Mexico.

Earlier this week, 28 people were killed in two separate gun battles in the restive states of Michoacan and Guerrero.

Mexico has registered more than 250,000 murders since the government controversially deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006.

Many experts blame the "drug war" for spiraling violence, as fragmented cartels battle each other and the army.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Mexican judge orders trial for drug kingpin

MEXICO CITY - A Mexican judge decided Tuesday to put drug baron Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on trial even as authorities left the door open to extraditing the fallen kingpin to the United States.

The National Judicial Council said in a statement that Guzman was formally ordered to stay in prison for "organized crime with intent to commit crimes against health" -- a legal euphemism for drug trafficking.

Guzman, 56, has three days to appeal the ruling, which represents the first formal charges against the Sinaloa cartel boss since Mexican marines captured him in a US-backed operation on Saturday in a Pacific beach town.

The attorney general's office plans to lodge additional charges against Guzman, including using funds from illegal activities and possession of weapons reserved for the military.

Meanwhile, US prosecutors have announced plans to file an extradition request. Guzman faces drug trafficking charges in several US jurisdictions from New York to Chicago and San Diego, California.

His arrest was a major victory in President Enrique Pena Nieto's campaign against drug violence that has left around 80,000 people dead since 2006.

The capture was also a triumph for the US Drug Enforcement Administration and its 13-year effort to bring down the world's most wanted drug lord, who had fled from prison in 2001.

Interior Minister Miguel Angelo Osorio Chong said Mexican investigators want to extract information from Guzman before examining any bid to put him on trial in the United States.

"What we need is information," Osorio Chong told Radio Formula.

"If we are satisfied with what we get, and the United States also requires this person in that country" then Mexico would not see "any inconvenience," he said.

Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said he had spoken with his US counterpart, Eric Holder, on Tuesday.

"He told me about the possibility (of requesting an extradition) and I told him that it is an issue that we have to review," Murillo Karam said.

Mexico's top prosecutor said it was too soon to say whether Guzman would be extradited and that such a move would not happen quickly.

Guzman's lawyers have already requested an injunction to prevent any extradition to the United States.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

As Mexico catches cartel boss, others wait in wings

MEXICO CITY - Mexico has finally caught its most powerful drug kingpin, but other capos nicknamed "El Mayo," "La Tuta" and "El Mencho" remain on the loose, ready to take the crown.

While the capture of Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is a victory for President Enrique Pena Nieto's government, his arrest could unleash a new wave of violence as rivals tussle for his turf.

"There's going to be a huge void with this capture," Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration, told AFP.

"There's a strong possibility that this may increase the violence in Mexico."

Guzman, who was captured by Mexican marines in the Pacific resort city of Mazatlan on Saturday, made powerful enemies during his time at the top.

- Would-be suitors -

In the least bloody scenario, Guzman's main associate, veteran Sinaloa cartel capo Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, will grab the reins and continue business as usual.

But internal strife could hit the cartel if an ambitious underling decides to fight his way to the top.

"We are now looking for violence between Chapo's kids and El Mayo's kids, the next generation trying to get control of the cartel," a US security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Rival gangs could also smell blood and make incursions into Sinaloa's territory, sparking the type of turf wars that have killed more than 77,000 people in Mexico in the past seven years.

The threat could come from the once-powerful Zetas cartel, even though the northeastern-based gang was weakened after its leader's arrest last year, analysts said.

Even loose allies could make a grab for it, like the cult-like Knights Templar gang based in the western state of Michoacan and led by a former teacher, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez.

"There's a very strong possibility that other organizations such as the Zetas and the Knights Templar may try to attack the Sinaloa cartel and give them a deadly blow," Vigil said.

The Knights Templar, however, have been on the ropes since civilian vigilante militias emerged last year and drove them out of several towns.

The US security official, who requested anonymity because he is involved in cartel investigations, said a prime candidate to become Mexico's top drug lord is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias "El Mencho," reputed leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

The gang, based in western Jalisco state, has been fighting the Knights Templar and the rise of vigilantes has helped Oseguera's gang grab half of Michoacan, making it the "fastest growing" cartel, the official said.

"I think Mencho is now the most important trafficker in Mexico," the official said, adding that Guzman's arrest "will place Mencho in an open war against whatever remains of the Sinaloa cartel."

"El Chapo tried to have him killed a few years ago" because he saw him as a threat, he said.

- Sinaloa not dead yet -

Raising concerns that Guzman may even escape again, as he did in 2001, US lawmaker Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, urged Mexico to extradite the capo to the United States.

"I think that would be the best course for not only Mexico, but also the United States in ensuring that what happened in 2001 does not happen again," McCaul told ABC television.

Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office in New York's eastern district, confirmed that "we plan to seek his extradition."

Although Guzman's associate Zambada is qualified to take over Sinaloa, he is also being hunted down by security forces who "almost got him" recently, the official said.

Guzman's arrest came after the capture of a dozen Sinaloa operatives, including Zambada bodyguards.

"It is a great strategic blow to the Sinaloa cartel. The drug trafficking map of Mexico will be reorganized," said Raul Benitez Manaut, security expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University.

But the Sinaloa cartel could easily weather the storm because it is like a massive conglomerate that can still operate when its CEO is absent, analysts said.

"The most important cartel remains the one in Sinaloa. The others are much smaller," said Mexican security expert Samuel Gonzalez, a former federal narcotics prosecutor.

"The Sinaloa cartel was hurt, but it won't collapse," Gonzalez said. "Every space tends to be filled. There will be someone to fill the (drug) market to the United States."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com