Mexico: a city terrorized by a cartel, which releases a son of "El Chapo"

The legendary narco-trafficker "El Chapo", sentenced in July to life imprisonment in the United States, is no longer there. But in his stronghold of Culiacan, in northwestern Mexico, his family and his powerful Sinaloa cartel continue to make the law. And to sow terror. On Thursday, after the arrest of one of Joaquin's sons "El Chapo" Guzman, several dozen members of the cartel were deployed in this city of 750,000 inhabitants. Very heavily armed, they triggered loud shootings, blocked streets and set fire to cars and trucks. Faced with this firepower, the authorities quickly decided to release Ovidio Guzman Lopez.

According to the Minister of Security, Alfonso Durazo Montano, the arrest of the son Guzman was unplanned. Around 15:30 Thursday, he said, about thirty men from the National Guard and the army, in "Routine patrol" in the streets of Culiacan, were shot at from a house. "The patrol repelled the aggression and took control of the housing", in which four people, including Ovidio Guzman Lopez, were arrested.

This arrest, continues Durazo, immediately generated a surge of violence: "Several organized crime groups, with more strength than the patrol, have surrounded the house. Others have carried out violent actions against residents in different parts of the city, causing panic. In order to preserve the integrity and tranquility of the population, we decided to suspend ongoing operations. " Clearly, release Ovidio Guzman Lopez, yet sought after by Mexican and American justices.

Mensaje del Gabinete de Seguridad sobre los hechos aroused in Culiacan, Sinaloa: pic.twitter.com/gQ0pwrryr0

– Secretaria de Seguridad y Proteccion Ciudadana (@SSPCMexico) October 18, 2019

"You can not put out the fire with fire"

This decision, which sounds like an admission of weakness and helpless powerlessness on the part of the Mexican state, was justified Friday morning by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Which, incidentally, contradicted his minister's version by speaking well of a "surgery" – and not a routine patrol – launched to capture the son of El Chapo. "The situation proved very difficult and many citizens were threatened (…) The capture of a criminal can not be worth more than the life of the inhabitants", did he declare.

According to Wall Street Journal, another reason could explain the decision to release Ovidio Guzman Lopez. According to a government source interviewed by the US daily, members of the cartel reportedly sent two videos to the local army staff, the first showing a group of at least six soldiers held by armed men. second showing the execution of a soldier with a bullet in the head on a street in Culiacan. The existence of these two videos, and the role they may have played in the release of the prisoner, have not been officially confirmed.

Asked by the press about the message of impunity that this retreat risked sending to the cartels, President Lopez Obrador tried to defend himself: "This decision was made to protect the citizens. We can not extinguish the fire with fire. This is the difference between our strategy and that of previous governments. We do not want dead people, we do not want war. The strategy implemented in the past has turned our country into a cemetery. "

In the political opposition and among the experts, voices were raised to denounce a visibly poorly planned intervention, in a security context yet at very high risk, in full fief of the cartel of Sinaloa. "The only thing worse than trying to stop a drug lord without a plan and trigger an urban guerrilla war is to try to stop a drug lord without a plan, trigger an urban guerrilla, and leave him alone." go", said at Wall Street Journal Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican intelligence officer. "This operation was poorly prepared"Mexican Defense Minister Luis Crescencui Sandoval admitted Friday at a press conference in Culiacan.

Sniper rifle

Several videos and photos shared on social networks testify to the violence that swept Thursday on the capital of Sinaloa. And a clear sense of impunity among drug traffickers. We see trucks and pick-ups, sometimes topped with a machine gun, carrying at high speed armed men; jacks armed with assault rifles and wearing bullet-proof vests, positioned at street corners; and even a man lying on the ground at a crossroads, opening fire with what appears to be a 50-caliber sniper rifle.

This is one of the most intense videos from Culiacan, Sinaloa. They buy the 50 cals in U.S. gunshops. The same law applies to them as a shot guns or anything else. It gives you a great deal of firepower against Mexican police and soldiers … https://t.co/EfF4f1kGGk

– Ioan Grillo (@ioangrillo) October 18, 2019

Other videos testify to the panic that has taken hold of the population. There are residents trying to flee, other refugees with their young children behind cars. With, in the background, continuous bursts of automatic weapons. Motorists were reportedly attacked in the street by escaped prisoners from Aguaruto prison. A local official confirmed in the evening the escape of 20 to 30 detainees and the death of several guards.

# ÚltimaHora Una balacera y fuga de reos was confirmed the tarde of este jueves del penal de #Aguaruto, in, # Culiacan.
Cristobal Castaneda Camarillo, secretario of Seguridad Publica in Sinaloa indico that a no one is maintained the numero of reos evadidos pero ya se buscan pic.twitter.com/xEGXHrAXeI

– CanalTVC (@canaltvcmx) October 17, 2019

Faced with this outbreak of violence, the governor of the state of Sinaloa (one of the most deadly areas of the country), and the mayor of Culiacan, called the inhabitants to remain cloistered at home. The second division football match between Dorados de Sinaloa and Atlante, scheduled for Thursday night, has been postponed. Several flights have been canceled. Schools and creches will remain closed this Friday, just like the local university, which made this decision "To preserve the integrity of students, professors and employees".

Located in northwestern Mexico, on the Pacific coast, Culiacan is the stronghold of the Sinaloa cartel, founded in the late 1980s and remains, despite the arrest of its leader El Chapo, the country's main criminal organization . Considered to be the most powerful and wealthy drug trafficker in the world, Joaquin Guzman reportedly smuggled at least 1,200 tons of cocaine into the United States in a quarter of a century. Since his arrest in early 2016, his cartel continues to carry the majority of drugs entering the United States. In recent years, the distribution of cocaine has been accompanied by the production of heroin and synthetic drugs (such as fentanyl) consumed north of the border.

Read also: Mexico: Eleven years of effort, 200,000 deaths and cartels at the height

The chaotic scenes in Culiacan may put more pressure on Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He took office in December 2018 and pledged to pacify a country exhausted by the "war" on drugs that began in 2006 and left at least 250,000 people dead in Mexico. No results yet: 2019 is set to become the deadliest year in the country's history, surpassing the record 2018 record (more than 33,700 homicides). On Monday, 15 policemen were killed in an ambush by gunmen near the town of Aguililla in Michoacan State, another nerve center for drug trafficking in western Mexico.

Frederic Autran