Authorities in Mexico released more details on Friday about the violent shooting down of the son of a notorious Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
In a detailed account of the battles that killed 10 military personnel and 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa cartel on Thursday when authorities arrested Ovidio Guzmán, Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said cartel gunmen opened fire on troops with .50-caliber machine guns.
The army then dispatched Blackhawk helicopters to melee which attacked a convoy of 25 cartel vehicles, some of which had gun platforms that fired at the helicopters.
The cartel then opened fire on the military aircraft, shooting down two of them with “a significant number of hits” on each of the two aircraft, Sandoval said.
MEXICAN AUTHORITIES CONFIRM ARREST OF SON OF CAPO ‘EL CHAPO’ AFTER 6 MONTHS OF INTERINSTITUTIONAL INVESTIGATION
A truck burns after being set on fire on a street in Culiacán, Sinaloa state, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzmán, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the former cartel’s sons. from Sinaloa. kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in a pre-dawn operation Thursday that sparked shootouts and roadblocks in the capital of the western state.
((AP Photo/Martin Urista))
The gang then sent hordes of armed men to attack both military and civilian fixed-wing aircraft at the city’s international airport.
A civilian aircraft was hit. The gunmen also fired at airport buildings in an attempt to prevent authorities from removing the captured cartel boss from the city. However, Sandoval said, authorities, anticipating resistance, loaded Guzmán into a military helicopter to take him back to Mexico City.
Ongoing shootings killed a Culiacán police officer and wounded 17 police officers and 35 military personnel.
SINALOA, MEXICO ENROLLED BY VIOLENCE, CHAOS AFTER THE ARREST OF EL CHAPO’S SON, BEFORE BIDEN’S VISIT TO THE COUNTRY
Police arrive at the scene after the looting of a store in Culiacán, Sinaloa state, Thursday, January 5, 2023. Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzmán, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of the former Sinaloa cartel. kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in a pre-dawn operation Thursday that sparked shootouts and roadblocks in the capital of the western state.
((AP Photo/Martin Urista))
The violence became so intense that Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha says cartel members showed up at local hospitals trying to kidnap doctors to bring them back to the front lines to treat wounded fighters.
“It got to the point where at one point the doctors were saying, ‘We’re getting out of here,'” Rocha recalled, saying police had tightened security and convinced the doctors to stay.
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Chaos in the streets of Culiacán, Sinaloa state, when Mexican authorities captured the son of “El Chapo” Guzmán on Thursday, January 5.
(AP/Martin Urista)
Guzmán was the leader of a Sinaloan faction he called “Los Menores” or “the juniors,” also known as “Los Chapitos,” or the sons of El Chapo, who is currently serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison after being convicted of drug trafficking and organized crime.
Ovidio Guzmán, nicknamed “El Raton,” had not been one of El Chapo’s best-known sons until a botched operation to capture him three years ago. That attempt similarly triggered the violence in Culiacán that ultimately led to president andres manuel lopez obrador to order the military to let him go.
A truck catches fire on a street in Culiacán, Sinaloa state, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Mexican security forces captured Ovidio Guzmán, an alleged drug trafficker wanted by the United States and one of the sons of the former head of the Sinaloa cartel. Joaquin “El Chapo”. Guzmán, in a pre-dawn operation Thursday that sparked gunfire and roadblocks in the western state’s capital.
((AP Photo/Martin Urista))
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Guzmán was indicted by the United States on drug trafficking charges in 2018. According to both governments, he had assumed an increasing role among his brothers in running their father’s businesses, along with cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The six-month interagency investigation into Guzmán concluded just days before President Biden is scheduled to visit Mexico for the North American Leaders Summit, which will include meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and López Obrador.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
