Already 29 dead after the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, the son of “El Chapo”

At least 29 people died in the violence unleashed Thursday 5 in the Mexican state of Sinaloa (north) after the arrest of Ovid Guzmanone of the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman most wanted by the US, as revealed on Friday 6 by the Government.

Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval stressed that of the 29 dead, a dozen belonged to the Mexican armed forces and 19 to criminal groups which sparked the violent riots.

“Ten soldiers have lost their lives in service to ensure security. The Mexican state will pay them the funeral honors,” the Mexican president said at the daily press conferenceAndrés Manuel López Obrador.

Sandoval celebrated it, according to current informationno innocent civilians lost their lives.

As regards the toll of the wounded, the Chief of the Army counted 35 soldiers wounded by gunfire, as well as damage to various land and air vehicles of the Armed Forces.

21 members of organized crime were also arrested, Sandoval said.

3,586 members of the Armed Forces participated in the operation during and after the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán in the early hours of Thursday, who also faced the violence unleashed in the streets of cities such as Culiacán (capital of Sinaloa), Los Mochis and Mazatlán.

López Obrador stressed that the government acted “responsibly” to “take care of the civilian population, so that there are no innocent victims”.

Furthermore, he added that the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha, informed him that the situation in the region is normalizing, after suffering a day of blockades, shell attacks and burning cars.

“There are no armed groups in Sinaloa, in the blockades, that have already been removing since yesterday all the cars that were set on fire and that were blocking the streets, practically in the whole city of Culiacán,” he explained.

The events in Sinaloa have aroused fear among citizens because they recall the controversial “culiacanazo”, an operation in which federal forces arrested Ovidio Guzmán on October 17, 2019, but He was released hours later for violent acts by the Sinaloa Cartel.

Ovidio Guzmán was transferred Thursday night to the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation (Cefereso) number 1 Altiplano -also known as Almoloya Prison-, located in the State of Mexico, where his father was held and from which he escaped in 2015.

All this happens a few days before the visit of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, on the occasion of the North American Leaders Summit.

Where is El Chapo Guzmán held?

El Chapo is imprisoned in Maximum Security Administrative Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, better known by its acronym in English ADX or as “Alcatraz of the Rockies”. Located in a remote, semi-arid area of ​​Colorado, it has six outer towers with armed guards, plus many more from a nearby penitentiary, and its perimeter is constantly monitored by mobile patrols. Since its inauguration in 1994, no inmate has ever managed to escape.

The cells measure 3.5 meters long by two meters wide. They have beds, a desk, a stool and a shelf, but all of this is made of concrete, to keep it from being moved. Inmates spend 23 hours a day locked up and have one hour of individual recreation.

In addition to Guzmán, Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber who terrorized for years with his letter bombs; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, sentenced to death for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, and Zacarias Moussaoui, an Al Qaeda member involved in planning the September 11, 2001 attacks. El Chapo, 63, spent hours working on the files for his appeal, which was dismissed in early 2022.

Now, no doubt, he must already know about his son Ovid’s arrest and somehow be pulling the strings to continue to maintain control of that death, drug and billion dollar emporium called Sinaloa Cartel.