Shootings and roadblocks shake Mexican drug cartel stronghold

CULIACAN, Mexico, August 30, 2024 (BSS/AFP) – Shootings, roadblocks and arson rocked a Mexican city home to one of the country’s most powerful drug cartels on Thursday, authorities and local media reported.

In Culiacan, the capital of the northwestern state of Sinaloa, the stronghold of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his sons, vehicles were set on fire.

Armed men attacked a military patrol on the outskirts of the city, the Sinaloa State Security Secretariat reported on social media.

Roadblocks were later reported in another district, where Ovidio Guzman, one of El Chapo’s sons, was arrested in January 2023 before being extradited to the United States.

The unrest, and a series of recent killings in Sinaloa, follow the dramatic arrest on US soil of a leader of the Sinaloa cartel, under circumstances that would not be out of place in a crime thriller.

Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada claimed in a statement obtained through his lawyer that he had been kidnapped in Mexico and held in the United States against his will.

Zambada, 76, was arrested on July 25 along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, another son of El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence in the United States.

Only one of El Chapo’s sons accused of cartel ties remains at large: Ivan Archivaldo.

The United States has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez is accused by Mexican prosecutors of kidnapping Zambada and taking him across the border in a private jet.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office on Thursday called on U.S. authorities to “urgently” clarify the legal status and whereabouts of Ovidio Guzman, a prosecutor who said his case is linked to Zambada’s kidnapping.

A statement said Ovidio Guzman was released from U.S. prison on July 23, two days before the arrests of his brother and Zambada.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said on July 26 that Ovidio Guzman remains in U.S. custody, without providing details about his whereabouts.
Experts, including former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Mike Vigil, suspect that Guzman turned Lopez Zambada in exchange for benefits for himself and his brother Ovidio.

Zambada appeared in a wheelchair in Texas court this month and pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder.

Guzman Lopez was transferred to Chicago, where he denied drug trafficking charges.