Same goal with different results.
The Mexican authorities captured this Thursday in Culiacán a Ovid Guzman Lopezson of the drug dealer Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmanin an operation that unleashed violence in the capital of the state of Sinaloa.
The images of burning vehicles, shootouts and roadblocks are reminiscent of a similar operation to capture Ovidio Guzmán in 2019, but with a big difference: that one failed generating a wave of criticism against the authorities.
The official version at the time indicated that Guzmán was briefly in the hands of the police and the Army, but he was released shortly after after a bloody confrontation with armed commandos that left several dead.
“The capture of a criminal cannot be worth more than the lives of people,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) explained at a press conference in which he detailed the reasons for the failure.
That operation is known as the “Culiacanazo” and during these three years it has been one of the great duties of the AMLO administration in its fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.
The strange capture and release of Ovidio Guzmán
The brief capture of Ovidio Guzmán in 2019 was filmed by the authorities. In the images it was seen how several soldiers ordered the drug trafficker out of a house in Culiacán.
After moments of great tension, the son of “El Chapo” handed over his pistol to a partner and left the property with his hands up. The soldiers took him by the arms.
Shortly after his arrest, unprecedented violence broke out. Hundreds of hit men blocked the streets of the city, took twenty soldiers hostage and attacked buildings where military relatives lived.
The level of response from the group forced the AMLO government to reverse the operation and order the release of Ovidio Guzmán.
“We are talking about almost the start of a war; You cannot put out the fire with fire and it is not about massacres” were some of the phrases with which AMLO justified the government’s decision.
“Rash Action”
The operation to try to arrest Guzmán López in October 2019 stemmed from an arrest warrant from the federal court in Columbia, United States, promulgated since April.
In September, the US government asked Mexico to detain El Chapo’s son. It was then that the operation began to be planned.
Weeks later, when a judge issues an arrest warrant to extradite “The mouse”the National Guard sent a team to Culiacán, supported by elements of the Army.
The plan was arrest Ovidio Guzmán on October 17 at his house in the Tres Ríos subdivision. The strategy included the support of four military groups to monitor the streets surrounding the house, but that day only one was able to reach the site.
The rest were attacked on the way to the residence by hitmen from the Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities. The soldiers who surrounded Guzmán López’s house and managed to capture him were left virtually alone.
Part of the problem, authorities said at the time, was that the delivery of an order to enter the dwelling, so the military had to wait in the garage and on the street. This delay intensified the cartel’s aggressions.
“Those violent events were prompted by rash actiona”recognized then the Secretary of Security, Alfonso Durazo.
violent response
In a few hours, hundreds of armed youths blocked the streets and avenues of Culiacán. A military helicopter was shot several times. Other youths released 50 prisoners who were in the Aguaruto prison, some of them members of the cartel.
The hitmen also kidnapped soldiers at a toll booth on the highway to the Mazatlán resort and another group fired at the housing unit where military families lived, said the official version.
According to the Secretary of Defense, the hitmen threw grenades that failed to explode and entered four apartments to try to kidnap their occupants.
The federal government’s Security Cabinet, which was meeting in Mexico City, received reports that the cartel was planning other attacks in cities in Durango, Sonora and Chihuahua.
Another report indicated the plan of the narcos to exchange the soldiers retained by Guzmán Lópezin addition to his intention to, at some point on that Thursday, shoot at civilians, the authorities said.
Thus, “at 7:49 p.m. the cancellation of the operation is ordered, the withdrawal of the troops from the place where they were,” said Secretary Luis Crescencio Sandoval González. Guzmán López was released and the violence gradually reduced.
“Stop everything, I already gave myself up”
Before making this decision, the soldiers who wanted to arrest “El Ratón” asked him to speak to his family so that he could order a ceasefire.
The moment was recorded on video. The images show Guzmán López while he talks on a mobile phone. “Stop everything, listen, stop everything, I already gave myself up,” he says. “Stop everything, calm down, no way.”
But the call did not work. “In communication with his brother, he establishes that he will not stop,” says the Secretary of Defense. “Inclusive throw threats against military personnel and their families in that communication.”
Guzmán López and his companions, two men and a woman, remained in the garage of his house for several hours, until an order was given to suspend the operation.
It was the best decision, President López Obrador insisted. Trying to take “El Ratón” to Mexico City, as was the original plan, would have caused at least 200 deaths, according to his calculations.
Freeing the son of El Chapo was severely criticized and had an impact on the popularity of the president.
Journalists and political analysts then described the failure as “a defeat for the country” and a “surrender” of state forces.
In social networks, hashtags such as #AMLORenuncia and #EstadoFallido became popularalthough there were also several messages of support under the slogan #AMLOEstamosContigo.
As in 2019, after the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán this Thursday, the criminal commandos orchestrated blockades and armed attacks in various parts of the city, including the Federal International Airport of Culiacán and the military air base number 10, according to the authorities. .
Nevertheless, this time the capture of the narco was consummated and was transferred to the organized crime prosecutor’s office in Mexico City in a Mexican Air Force aircraft.
“This arrest represents a blunt blow to the leadership of the Pacific cartel. [Sinaloa]”, highlighted Sandoval González.
The operation, said the Secretary of Defense, was the result of six months of security work in the zone of influence of the criminal group led by Ovidio Guzmán.
ANow you can receive notifications from BBC Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate them so you don’t miss out on our best content.
- Do you already know our YouTube channel? Subscribe!