Mexico Confirmed They Found El Chapo’s Son — and Let Him Go
Credit to Author: Gaby Del Valle| Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2019 15:57:35 +0000
Mexico’s president and public security secretary said Friday that government forces decided to end an operation to capture El Chapo’s son to protect the safety of soldiers involved. But sources, including one U.S. law enforcement official, have confirmed to VICE News that Mexican military captured Ovidio Guzmán López and then released him after an attack by the cartel.
It’s still unclear exactly what happened Thursday afternoon and evening in Culiacán, the capital of Mexico’s northwestern Sinaloa state. It appears that a bid to arrest Ovidio, a 28-year-old son of El Chapo who has been indicted in the United States, devolved into gun battles in the street and a near city-wide lockdown. Photos of Ovidio showed him in custody, but he was eventually set free. Unconfirmed reports suggest Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, El Chapo’s eldest son, may have also been captured and released.
Ovidio and Iván, two of several of El Chapo’s sons, lead a faction of the Sinaloa cartel now that their father, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, is serving a life sentence in a US. prison.
Mexican security secretary Alfonso Durazo said at a press conference that 30 soldiers from the army and National Guard were patrolling Culiacán when someone shot at them from inside a house. The soldiers found Ovidio inside the house, but they ended up letting him go after being surrounded by gunmen who had “a greater force,” Durazo said.
“With the goal of safeguarding the well-being and tranquillity of Culiacán society, officials in the security cabinet decided to suspend the actions,” Durazo said.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his cabinet ultimately decided to call off the operation because of the threat the cartel posed to the general population. “They took decisions that I backed, that I endorse, because the situation turned very difficult because many citizens, many people, were at risk,” said Lopez Obrador, adding that the decision was made by his security cabinet.
“It was decided to protect people’s lives, and I was in agreement with that,” Lopez Obrador said. “It’s not about massacres. We can’t value the capture of one delinquent over the lives of the people.”
Cristóbal Castañeda, the public safety director for the state of Sinaloa, reportedly told a Mexican television station that people were wounded as a result of the shootout but didn’t confirm whether there were any deaths.
Keegan Hamilton contributed reporting.
Cover: Mexican police patrol in a street of Culiacan, state of Sinaloa, Mexico, on October 17, 2019, after heavily armed gunmen in four-by-four trucks fought an intense battle with Mexican security forces. (Photo by RASHIDE FRIAS / AFP) (Photo by RASHIDE FRIAS/AFP via Getty Images)
This article originally appeared on VICE US.