Footage from onboard an AeroMexico flight that was shot at whilst taxiing for takeoff at Culiacán airport. Cartel members are currently conducting multiple attacks in retaliation for the arrest of Ovidio Guzman, El Chapós son.
Mayor Juan de Dios Gamez confirmed on Twitter that federal armed forces have been carrying out an operation in Culiacán since dawn on Thursday and that this has prompted violence in the city and other parts of the state.
"We ask the citizens of Culiacán not to leave home due to the blockades that have occurred in different parts of the city," he said.
Local media claim the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán-López happened in the city of Culiacán in Sinaloa state overnight.
He is thought to be a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel - one of the largest drug-trafficking organisations in the world.
Gunfire and car-jackings have been reported in the city.It is reported that the local airport has temporarily been closed and the local government body overseeing education announced on social media that "teaching and other administrative activities" had been suspended in Culiacán.
Mexican security forces had previously arrested Guzmán-López in 2019 but released him to avoid the threat of violence from his supporters.
The US State Department claims that he and his brother, Joaquín, are currently overseeing approximately eleven methamphetamine labs in the state of Sinaloa, producing an estimated 1,300- 2,200kg (3000-5000lb) of the drug per month.
They have also said that information indicates Guzmán-López ordered the murders of informants, a drug trafficker and a popular Mexican singer who had refused to sing at his wedding.
In December, the US announced a reward of up to $5m (£4.2m) for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ovidio and three of his brothers, who are thought to have kept their positions of command in the group.
Their father, meanwhile, is serving a life sentence in the US after being found guilty in 2019 of drug trafficking and money laundering. Ovidio Guzmán, one of the sons of famed drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and a key leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, has been captured in the city of Culiacán. Again.
Guzmán, 33, who has a $5 million bounty on his head, was in federal government custody on the morning of Jan. 5, according to government sources quoted in local media.
A U.S. law enforcement source confirmed Jan. 5 to VICE World News that Guzmán had been arrested by the Mexican military, but that security forces were struggling to transport him out of Sinaloa amid the chaos. Shortly afterwards, local media reported that Guzmán had been transferred to a military base in Mexico City.
The operation to capture Ovidio started on Wednesday night around the town of Jesús María, on the outskirts of Culiacán, according to sources linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. Residents of the city, widely viewed as the headquarters of the Sinaloa Cartel, awoke Thursday morning to shootings and highway blockades, allegedly a result of cartel members trying to rescue Guzmán, according to news reports. Several vehicles were set on fire on the main street between Culiacán and Jesús María, authorities said. The Mexican military arrested him “less than 15 minutes” drive from the grave of his half brother Edgar Guzmán, according to the same source speaking anonymously with VICE World News. The news of the operation capture one of “Los Chapitos”, as El Chapo’s sons are known, sparked fear between local residents.
“We are still trying to recover from the last ‘Culiacanazo’, and now we wake up to this again. It’s terrible, the government should just leave the folks alone,” Juan Chico, a Culiacán local resident, told VICE World News. “We ask the citizens of Culiacán not to leave home due to the blockades that have occurred in different parts of the city,” city Mayor Juan de Dios Gámez wrote on Twitter. During his daily morning conference, President López Obrador said a federal police operation was taking place in the state, but that he did not have further details.
Schools and offices around the city of Culiacán were closed by orders of the state government, fearing retaliation from cartel members.
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