Culiacán, Sinaloa — Ovidio Guzmán, the son of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera or El Chapo, was captured in the state of Sinaloa Thursday. He was apprehended after a six month long operation by state authorities.
Rosa Icela Rodríguez, head of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), along with the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, offered details surrounding his Thursday morning arrest. Ovidio Guzmán, 32, who is the son of El Chapo, was captured in Culiacán, Sinaloa January 5.
“This detention was derived from six months of work and surveillance in the area of influence of this criminal group, where it was known that they carried out illegal activities,” said Sandoval in a press conference.
“Moments after the arrest, cell members of his criminal group carried out 19 blockades and armed attacks in different parts of the city of Culiacán, among which the Culiacán International Airport and Military Air Base number 10 stand out, in the same way accesses to the city of Culiacán was blocked,” added Sandoval.
He said Ovidio Guzmán leads the fraction of Los Menores, a group related to the Sinaloa Cartel, who are a known generator of violence in four states in the northwestern region of the country.
El Chapo’s son was transferred under heavy guard to a state prison. After his arrest, acts of armed violence began in the streets that lead to the temporary closure of the city’s international airport.
On social media, airlines such as Aeroméxico, Volaris and Viva Aerobús suspended operations in Sinaloa. Flights into Culiacán, Mazatlán and Los Mochis airports were suspended Thursday by the airlines.
The US has had El Chapo’s eldest son on their radar since 2018. The United States Department of Justice points to Ovidio Guzmán for the distribution of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana in various US states from 2008 to 2018.
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has four sons, Ovidio Guzmán López, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Joaquín Guzmán López, all of whom, are on the radar of US law enforcement.
After the public announcement of his arrest, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard, said that there is a US extradition request for Ovidio Guzmán, but the process is not immediate, adding that the extradition request has been in force since September 19, 2019.
