Authorities in Mexico released more details on Friday about the violent takedown of the son of notorious Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzm?n.
In a blow-by-blow description of the battles that killed 10 military personnel and 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel on Thursday as authorities arrested Ovidio Guzm?n, Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said that cartel gunmen opened fire on troops with .50-caliber machine guns.
The army then sent Blackhawk helicopters into the melee that attacked a convoy of 25 cartel vehicles, some of which had gun platforms that were firing on the helicopters.
The cartel then opened fire on the military aircraft, forcing two of them down with “a significant number of impacts” in each of the two aircraft, Sandoval said.
A truck burns after being set on fire on a street in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzm?n, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaqu?n “El Chapo” Guzm?n, in a pre-dawn operation Thursday that set off gunfights and roadblocks across the western state’s capital.
((AP Photo/Martin Urista))
The gang then sent hordes of gunmen to attack fixed-wing aircraft, both military and civilian, at the city’s international airport.
One civilian airliner was hit. The gunmen also shot up airport buildings in a bid to prevent authorities from flying the captured cartel boss out of the city. However, Sandoval said, authorities anticipating the resistance had loaded Guzman onto a military helicopter to fly him back to Mexico City.
The running shootouts killed one Culiacan policeman and wounded 17 police officers and 35 military personnel.
The police arrive on the scene after a store was looted in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzm?n, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaqu?n “El Chapo” Guzm?n, in a pre-dawn operation Thursday that set off gunfights and roadblocks across the western state’s capital.
((AP Photo/Martin Urista))
The violence became so heavy that Sinaloa Gov. Ruben Rocha says cartel members showed up at local hospitals attempting to kidnap doctors to take them back to the front lines and treat wounded fighters.
“It got to the point that at one moment, the doctors were saying, ‘We’re getting out of here’,” recalled Rocha, saying that police had reinforced security and convinced the doctors to stay.
Mayhem on the streets of Culiacan, Sinaloa state, as Mexican authorities captured the son of “El Chapo” Guzm?n on Thursday, Jan. 5.
(AP/Martin Urista)
Guzm?n was a leader of a Sinaloa faction he called “Los Menores” or “the juniors,” who are also known as “Los Chapitos,” or the sons of El Chapo, who is currently serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison after being convicted on drug trafficking and organized crime charges.
Ovidio Guzm?n, nicknamed “the Mouse,” had not been one of El Chapo’s better-known sons until an aborted operation to capture him three years ago. That attempt similarly set off violence in Culiacan that ultimately led President Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador to order the military to let him go.
A truck burns on a street in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Thursday Jan. 5, 2023. Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzm?n, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaqu?n “El Chapo” Guzm?n, in a pre-dawn operation Thursday that set off gunfights and roadblocks across the western state’s capital.
((AP Photo/Martin Urista))
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Guzm?n was indicted by the United States on drug trafficking charges in 2018. According to both governments, he had assumed a growing role among his brothers in carrying on their father’s business, along with long-time cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The six-month interagency investigation into Guzman concluded just days before President Biden is set to visit Mexico for the North American Leaders’ Summit, which will include meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Lopez Obrador.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
