While "El Chapo" is in a US high-security prison for life, his son takes over the drug business in the Mexican Sinaloa cartel. After his arrest, gang members exchange gunfire with the military. In 2019, the criminals had blackmailed his release.
Fighting has broken out between suspected gang members and security forces in northwestern Mexico following the arrest of the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Criminals blocked buses and trucks on the streets of the city of Culiacán and set the vehicles on fire, television broadcasts showed. Numerous shots were heard.
Soldiers had previously arrested Ovidio Guzmán, as reported by Mexican media, citing security circles. After his father's arrest, he took over part of the Sinaloa cartel and was considered one of the most important dealers in the drug fentanyl in the Latin American country. Together with his brothers, he repeatedly fought clashes with other groups within the Sinaloa cartel. He was arrested once before in 2019 but later released by order of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to stop heavy fighting between criminals and security forces.
According to US authorities, he runs a number of methamphetamine production laboratories and is said to produce between 1.5 and 2.5 tons of the drug per month. He is also said to have ordered the murders of informants, rivals and a singer who did not want to sing at his wedding. In view of the clashes, Governor Rubén Rocha Moya called on people in Sinaloa to stay in their homes. Schools, public buildings and the Culiacan airport have been closed. The US Embassy in Mexico advised against travel to Sinaloa.
According to media reports, Guzmán was taken to a military base in Mexico City. The US State Department put a $5 million bounty on his head. A Washington court charged him with drug smuggling in 2018.
His father, "El Chapo" was one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world. The former head of the Sinaloa cartel smuggled tons of cocaine and heroin into the US and made billions from it. He is also said to have been responsible for up to 3,000 murders. He twice broke out of maximum security prisons in Mexico. After his last arrest, he was extradited to the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment.
