Photo: The Canadian Press
FILE – This Oct. 17, 2019, still from video provided by the Mexican government shows Ovidio Guzman Lopez at the time of his detention in Culiacan, Mexico. Mexican security forces were forced to free the son of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman this day after his gunmen opened fire on the western city of Culiacan. (CEPROPIE via AP file)
UPDATE 3:15 p.m
Canadian tourists were trapped in a Mexican hotel on Thursday after the buses that were supposed to take them to an airport and get them home safely caught fire outside.
“It’s just chaos,” said Tina Dahl of Edmonton, whose six family members stranded in the popular tourist town of Mazatlan were scheduled to fly out Thursday night.
The federal government has advised Canadians in Mexico to limit their movement and shelter in place due to the violence in the western part of the country.
The violence began after a pre-dawn security operation on Thursday in which security forces captured suspected drug trafficker Ovidio Guzman, who is the son of former cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Ottawa said the violence was particularly severe in Culiacan, Mazatlán, Los Mochis and Guasave.
Dahl’s brother, sister-in-law, their three children and her daughter-in-law’s mother were trapped in their hotel room, she said.
“They were supposed to go back today, but they stayed in their hotel because the three buses that were supposed to go to the airport were set on fire by the (drug) cartel,” Dahl said.
“There was a shootout at the airport, so the airports are closed and the cartel has placed its fighters outside the hotel. I just know my brother and his family are stuck in the hotel right now.”
Dal had no phone line to the hotel, she said. But she was able to communicate with her family through Facebook.
“Sounds like everyone’s fine,” she said.
“(They’re) obviously shaken up. Just from reading between the lines of the lyrics and stuff, they’re pretty shaken up.”
The children are 10, 8 and 7 years old.
“I’m sure my brother probably had (the kids) at the pool trying not to (focus) on him,” Dahl said.
Dahl quoted a note written by her sister-in-law: “When it first happened, they said we’re going to try to get you on a flight tomorrow at 2 o’clock.
“I don’t think they’ll be flying home tomorrow. The gates are locked, the airports are closed and they are burning the city of Mazatlán.
“The lobby is full of people who had to take off and if they don’t come out by 5 p.m. they get kicked out. These people can’t go out into the street if there are buses on fire out front and the cartel is there.”
UPDATE 2:15 p.m
An Aeroméxico passenger plane was shot down on the runway Thursday at Culiacan International Airport in the chaos that followed the arrest of the son of drug lord Ovidio Guzman, son of “El Chapo” Guzman.
Members of the Sinaloa cartel are believed to have fired on an Embraer E190 aircraft operated by Aeroméxico and a Boeing 737-800 operated by the Mexican Air Force.
“This morning we found a bullet hole in the fuselage of an Embraer E190 aircraft that was ready to take flight AM165 on the Culiacan-Mexico City route. The flight was canceled for safety reasons,” Aeroméxico said in a statement.
“The plane never took off. Following this incident, all safety protocols have been activated, we have notified the authorities with whom we will coordinate investigations. Customers and employees are safe.”
The incident led to the closure of airports in Juárez, Culiacan, Los Mochis and Mazatlán.
The Canadian government has issued a shelter-in-place notice for those in the state of Sinaloa, which includes the tourist hotspot Mazatlan.
“There are burning cars, exchanges of fire and threats to essential infrastructure, including airports. Culiacan and Mazatlán airports are closed and all flights at Los Mochis airport are suspended until further notice,” the Canadian government said.
#México // Aeroméxico confirmed that el avion del vuelo AM165 was impacted by the balaceras que se sesataron en #Culiacán, en donde los pasajeros debierons cover ante los impactos.
Los aeropuertos de Cualiacán, Mochis y Mazatlán will have no commercial activity this day. pic.twitter.com/FhCM8uj6ej
— El Clarín (@SVElClarin) January 5, 2023
#Mexico: Entrances to #Mazatlán airport in #Sinaloa state blocked by cartel sicarios. Via Grupo Formula on Twitter pic.twitter.com/9WVrLJD5EH
— Abhishek Saxena (@tagabhishek) January 5, 2023
The capture of Ovidio Guzmán was the result of six months of intelligence and surveillance of the cartel’s territory and then swift action Thursday, Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said. National Guard troops spotted SUVs, some with homemade armor, and immediately coordinated with the military as they established a perimeter around the suspicious vehicles and forced the occupants to be searched.
Security forces then came under fire but were able to control the situation and identify Guzmán among those present and in possession of firearms, Sandoval said.
Cartel members set up 19 blockades, including at Culiacan’s airport and outside the local army base, as well as all access points to the city of Culiacan, Sandoval said, but the air force was able to fly Guzmán to Mexico City despite their efforts, and he was taken to the offices of the special prosecutor’s office for organized crime.
Sandoval said Guzman was the leader of a Sinaloa faction he called “los menores,” or “the younger ones,” also known as “los Chapitos,” for El Chapo’s sons.
Other “little Chapos” include two of his brothers – Ivan Archivaldo Guzman and Jesus Alfredo Guzman – who are believed to have run cartel operations alongside Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The Chapitos are taking more control in the cartel because Zambada is in poor health and isolated in the mountains, Vigil said. “The Chapitos know that if El Mayo dies, (the cartel) will collapse if they don’t have control.”
ORIGINAL 11:50 am
Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzman, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, on Thursday in a pre-dawn operation that sparked shootouts and roadblocks in the western state capital .
Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said that Army and National Guard personnel had captured a son of “El Chapo.” Sandoval identified him only as Ovidio, in accordance with government policy.
Ovidio Guzmán was not one of El Chapo’s most famous sons until the aborted operation to capture him three years ago. That attempt similarly sparked violence in Culiacan, eventually prompting President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to order the military to release him.
This time, local and state officials in Sinaloa warned residents to stay inside, suspended local government activities and closed schools. The Mexican military has closed Culiacan’s airport amid gunfire.
The high-profile capture comes just days before Lopez Obrador hosts US President Joe Biden for bilateral talks, followed by a summit of North American leaders with Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Drug trafficking, along with immigration, is expected to be a major topic of conversation for the leaders.
López Obrador’s security strategy reversed years of what became known as the King’s strategy to remove cartel leaders. Ultimately, this led to the fragmentation of large cartels and bloody battles for dominance. López Obrador put all his faith in the military, disbanding the corrupt federal police and creating the National Guard under military command.
“This is a significant blow to the Sinaloa cartel and a major victory for the rule of law. However, this will not stop the flow of drugs into the US. Hopefully, Mexico will extradite him to the U.S.,” Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of international operations, said Thursday.
Ovidio is not among the most famous sons of the drug lord. Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán and Jesus Alfredo Guzmán are known as “Los Chapitos” or “the little Chapos” and are believed to run their father’s cartel along with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The Chapitos are taking more control in the cartel because Zambada is in poor health and isolated in the mountains, Vigil said. “The Chapitos know that if El Mayo dies, (the cartel) will collapse if they don’t have control.”
“It will be very important that the U.S. requests Ovidio’s extradition quickly and that Mexico does so,” Vigil said.
Suspected cartel members responded to Thursday’s operation by kidnapping Culiacan residents and setting fire to vehicles in the cartel stronghold. Local and state officials have warned everyone to stay indoors.
Such attempts to create chaos often come in response to the arrests of key cartel figures in Mexico. One of the most famous came when federal security forces detained Ovidio Guzmán in October 2019, only to let him escape after gunmen shelled the city with high-powered weapons.
López Obrador said at the time that he made the decision to avoid the loss of life, even though the U.S. wanted Ovidio Guzman extradited on drug-trafficking charges. A 2018 federal indictment in Washington, D.C. charged him with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana in the United States.
The 2019 debacle was a black eye for the López Obrador administration, raising even more questions about Mexico’s commitment to fighting the country’s powerful drug cartels.
López Obrador took office strongly criticizing the drug war casualties of his predecessors. He embraced the phrase “hugs, not bullets” to describe his approach to Mexico’s chronic violence, which will focus on social programs aimed at easing the…
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