Ovidio Guzmán López, during his first arrest, in Culiacán, on October 17, 2019.AP
Three years and three months after the
Culiacanazo
, the Mexican Army finally arrested Ovidio Guzmán, son of El Chapo, in Sinaloa, in the north of the country, on Thursday.
Before noon, a military plane has transferred the drug trafficker to the capital and has gone to the number one Military Camp in Mexico City.
The capture took place at dawn and has generated a brutal reaction from Guzmán's criminal group, known as Los Chapitos, one of the factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The virulent response of Los Chapitos is precisely reminiscent of the
Culiacanazo
, one of the great fiascos of the six-year term in terms of security.
On October 17, 2019, another Thursday, an elite team from the Armed Forces arrived at the home of the leader of Los Chapitos in Culiacán, hence the name of the frustrated operation.
The idea, like today, was to take him to Mexico City, but the violent reaction of his henchmen forced the federal government to release him and withdraw.
Today, the Army has gone all the way, capturing the kingpin, one of the main objectives of the United States Government.
Then and now, the actions of Los Chapitos have left the country speechless, with blockades of streets, avenues and highways, burning of vehicles and movements by car of dozens of hit men armed to the teeth.
This Thursday, Guzmán's henchmen would have even broken into the Culiacán airport, firing at the military planes that had traveled to the city.
Residents of the city also denounced the looting of their vehicles by criminals.
More information
The last hour of Ovidio Guzmán, live
The main difference between the two black Thursdays would be the geography of the criminal activity, more central in 2019. So, Los Chapitos also acted during the early hours of the afternoon, rush hour in the city for the departure of students from schools and workers' lunch breaks.
The videos of citizens fleeing, with their children on their backs, trying to avoid the shootings, symbolized the great criminal barrage.
If the panic of the citizens running through the center of the Sinaloan capital illustrated the first Culiacanazo, the passengers lying on the ground, trying to avoid the bullets, of a plane that was trying to leave the city's airfield will mark the second.
Beyond the criminal group's firepower, the audacity to fire at planes at the airport speaks of the attitude and characteristics of Los Chapitos, whose expansive logic has been accentuated over the years.
It is a name that grows that of Los Chapitos.
For years, the United States Government has been targeting Ovidio and his brothers, for whom he offers rewards of five million dollars, an amount updated just over a year ago.
The authorities of that country accuse Ovidio Guzmán of conspiring to traffic drugs north of the Rio Grande, including cocaine and methamphetamine.
In the US they also point to Los Chapitos for trafficking fentanyl into the country.
Since the first Culiacanazo, and despite the fiasco, the harassment of Los Chapitos has been constant in Mexico.
In July, the Army reported the discovery of more than 60 drug production laboratories in Sinaloa, between Culiacán and the mountains, the traditional haunt of the criminal group's bosses.
In the laboratories, the authorities found machinery to produce methamphetamine in large quantities at high speed.
Mexico City has also been the scene of criminal activity and stalking by security forces.
In mid-July, the authorities seized a ton and a half of cocaine in the capital and arrested four alleged members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Also at that time, police officers from the capital clashed with alleged members of the criminal group in Topilejo, in the south of the city.
Fourteen members of the criminal group were arrested.
In both situations, he signed up for the Los Chapitos group.
All this in a confrontational logic of Los Chapitos, at odds with old allies of the great Sinaloan boss, Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, the case of the Caborca cartel or the faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by Ismael El Mayo Zambada.
Caro Quintero was arrested in Mexico a few months ago and El Chapo is serving a life sentence in the US Zambada is still free.
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