Mexico arrests Ovidio Guzman, son of 'El Chapo,' city engulfed by violence
Mexican drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was arrested, unleashing a violent backlash by gang gunmen on Thursday that shut the airport in the city of Culiacan as authorities told residents to stay indoors.
Burned vehicles were scattered on the streets, blocking roads while heavily armed law enforcement patrolled in pickup trucks.
Defence Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval told a news conference that security forces had captured the 32-year-old senior member of the Sinaloa Cartel. The arrest comes three years after an attempt to detain him ended in humiliation for the government.
Ovidio was now being held in the capital Mexico City, Sandoval said.
Ovidio, who has become a key figure in the cartel since the arrest of his father, was briefly detained in 2019 but was quickly released to end violent retribution in Culiacan from his gang. The incident was an embarrassing setback for the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
His latest capture comes before a North American leaders' summit in Mexico City next week, which U.S. President Joe Biden will attend and at which security issues are on the agenda.
The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ovidio.
It is not yet clear whether Ovidio will be extradited to the United States like his father, who is serving a life sentence at Colorado's Supermax, the most secure U.S. federal prison.
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, 65, was convicted in New York in 2019 of trafficking billions of dollars of drugs to the United States and conspiring to murder enemies.
Reuters
