Thousands of Mexican soldiers were involved in an operation to capture the son of notorious Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as “El Chapo,” this week, which resulted in the deaths of dozens with dozens more wounded.
El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán López, who is a leader in the cartel, was captured during the massive military operation involving more than 3,500 troops on Thursday, Mexican officials revealed.
Narco terrorists fired .50-caliber machine guns, which are powerful enough to down aircraft and take out light armored vehicles, at Mexican soldiers.
Ten soldiers were killed in addition to 19 members of the cartel with 35 soldiers sustaining gunshot injuries. Nearly two dozen cartel members were arrested, and numerous .50-caliber weapons were seized, along with dozens of rifles, and more than two dozen armored vehicles.
Luis Cresencio Sandoval González, the Secretary of Defense, said: “With these actions, the Army, the Air Force and the National Guard reaffirm the unwavering decision of the federal government to continue acting against organized crime.”
Ovidio Guzmán was arrested after soldiers cornered him and 17 other armed men in a house after the narco terrorists opened fire on the soldiers from half a dozen armored vehicles.
“A considerable number of criminal cells managed to group together with the intention of rescuing Ovidio N, attacking military personnel,” Sandoval González said.
A helicopter was used to transport Ovidio Guzmán out of the city and to the country’s capital because of the intense fighting on the ground. Two Mexican military aircraft were forced to land after sustaining significant damage from being fired upon.
Ovidio Guzmán, who was previously captured in Mexico, but then was released due to the overwhelming response from the cartels, faces criminal charges in the U.S. and Mexico for drug trafficking.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against both Ovidio Guzmán, 31, and Joaquín Guzmán López, 37, who are both El Chapo’s sons, in 2019.
They were both charged “in a one-count indictment alleging that from in or around April 2008, through April 2018, they conspired to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana from Mexico and elsewhere for importation into the United States,” the DOJ said.
#Violent clashes between local #DrugCartels and the army took place in #Mexico
According to Al Jazeera, they took place in the city of Culiacan after the arrest of the son of drug lord Ovidio Guzman Lopez. pic.twitter.com/zDNcbNgmoC
— Madhaw Tiwari (@MadhawTiwari) January 6, 2023
Chaos rages in Culiacán, Mexico, following the arrest of Ovidio Guzman, El Chapo’s son, early Thursday morning. This comes as President Biden is scheduled to visit Mexico this Monday. Take a look:pic.twitter.com/FVi9UZdeaw
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) January 5, 2023
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – Violence swept through Mexico’s Culiacan city as security forces clashed with gang gunmen after the arrest of Ovidio Guzman, a key figure of the Sinaloa cartel and son of drug baron Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman https://t.co/lZpFiY9zi6 pic.twitter.com/M39lcSvpqn
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2023