Defence Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval presents blow-by-blow description of battles that killed 10 navy personnel and 19 suspected members of Sinaloa drug cartel throughout Mexico’s operation to nab Ovidio Guzman.
(AP)
The operation to detain Ovidio Guzman, the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has unleashed firefights that turned the northern metropolis of Culiacan right into a conflict zone, authorities mentioned.
In a blow-by-blow description of the battles that killed 10 navy personnel and 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Defence Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval mentioned on Friday that cartel gunmen opened hearth on troops with .50-caliber machine weapons.
The military responded by calling in Blackhawk helicopter gunships to assault a convoy of 25 cartel autos, together with truck-mounted cartel gun platforms, on Thursday.
The operating shootouts killed one Culiacan policeman and wounded 17 cops and 35 navy personnel.
The cartel then opened hearth on the navy plane, forcing two of them down with “a significant number of impacts” in every of the 2 plane, Sandoval mentioned.
The gang then despatched hordes of gunmen to assault fixed-wing plane, each navy and civilian, on the metropolis’s worldwide airport.
The gunmen additionally shot up airport buildings in a bid to stop authorities from flying the captured cartel boss out of the town, however, Sandoval mentioned, authorities anticipating the resistance had loaded Ovidio Guzman, nicknamed “El Raton” (The Mouse), onto a navy helicopter to fly him again to Mexico City.
The Mexican administration bagged the high-profile cartel determine days earlier than internet hosting US President Joe Biden.
Samuel Gonzalez, who based Mexico’s particular prosecutor’s workplace for organised crime within the Nineteen Nineties, mentioned Guzman’s seize was a “gift” forward of Biden’s go to.
The Mexican authorities “is working to have a calm visit,” he mentioned.
READ MORE:
Over two dozens killed in operation to arrest drug kingpin son: Mexico
Culiacan residents should still help cartel
The scope of Thursday’s violence was such that Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha mentioned cartel gunmen confirmed up at native hospitals, attempting to abduct docs and take them away to deal with wounded fighters.
Rocha mentioned that gunmen could be handled in the event that they confirmed up at hospitals, however that gunmen should not attempt to abduct medical personnel.
“It got to the point that at one moment the doctors were saying ‘we are getting out of here’,” recalled Rocha, saying police had bolstered safety and satisfied the docs to remain.
Culiacan residents posted video on social media displaying convoys of gunmen in pickup vehicles and SUVs rolling down boulevards within the metropolis on Thursday.
At least one convoy included a flatbed truck with a mounted gun within the again.
Juan Carlos Ayala, a Culiacan resident and Sinaloa University professor who research the sociology of drug trafficking, mentioned many Culiacan residents should still help the cartel.
That could also be due to the cash the gang brings to the area, but additionally as a result of locals know that even after federal troops withdraw, the cartel will nonetheless be there. As unhealthy as it’s, the cartel has ensured relative stability, if not peace.
READ MORE: Mexico nabs drug lord Ovidio ‘The Mouse’ forward of Biden tour
‘More weapons than three years in the past’
The United States had a reward out of as much as $5 million for info resulting in Ovidio Guzman’s seize.
It accuses him of being a key participant within the notorious Sinaloa cartel together with long-time cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that the federal government had acquired a request in 2019 from the United States for Guzman’s arrest for functions of extradition.
He mentioned that the request must be up to date and processed, however he added that first, an open case in Mexico awaits Guzman.
Ismael Bojorquez, director of the native news outlet Riodoce, which specialises in protection of the world’s drug trafficking, mentioned the violent response needed to do with the president’s much less aggressive stance towards organised crime.
“They (cartels) have taken advantage of these four years to organise themselves, arm themselves, strengthen their structures, their finances,” he mentioned.
“I believe there are more weapons than three years ago. All of organised crime’s armies have strengthened, not just the Chapitos, and this is the price that society is paying for this strategy of the federal government.”
READ MORE: Who is El Chapo and why is he on trial within the US?
Source: TRTWorld and companies
