What Has Changed A Year After The Arrest Of Ovidio Guzmán?
The hunt for ‘Los Chapitos’ has left some undesired consequences in Sinaloa.
CULIACÁN, Sinaloa.— A year after hundreds of henchmen got out from their hideouts to “rescue the son of the general”, -as a popular narcocorrido describes the operation to protect Ovidio Guzmán, son of infamous drug trafficker ‘El Chapo’-, the burnt vehicles, unexploded grenades and bullet shields have disappeared along with ‘Los Chapitos’ bravado pose.
After the first ‘Culiacanazo’ (the battle for Culiacán, as some like to call it) in 2019, ‘Los Chapitos’ only got even more cynical about their power in Sinaloa: several corridos celebrated Ovidio’s rescue and hundreds of henchmen felt more comfortable openly patrolling Sinaloa’s capital city, Culiacán.
But on Jan. 5 2023 the Mexican government had a rematch: in less than ten minutes several Mexican military elite forces captured Ovidio while he was asleep along with his wife, three daughters and his mother, after a New Year's eve celebration at his ranch in his small hometown of Jesús María.
Again, hundreds of henchmen went out to try and stop Mexican authorities from taking “the son of the general”, but it was too late. The Mexican army stayed fighting the sicarios for several hours, but the target was far gone from Sinaloa.
A year later, things have changed dramatically: Now all the corridos, celebrations and armored pick-up trucks are gone.
Ovidio Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. amidst Mexico’s independence celebrations on Sept. 15. The fast-tracked extradition came as a surprise for him and his legal team, according to sources, since Ovidio had several legal maneuvers in place to avoid extradition.
After Ovidio’s extradition, his three brothers stayed in Sinaloa to run the cartel (a faction of it anyways): Iván Archivaldo, as the eldest and top leader; Alfredo and Joaquín. A few months after Ovidio’s extradition ‘Los Chapitos’ ordered an alleged halt to fentanyl production by setting up narco-banners all over Sinaloa and even leaving dead bodies with small mountains of fentanyl pills around as a message to say “we are not allowing this anymore”.
But if we are honest, the whole message was targeting us, the public opinion, while the kitchens kept manufacturing tons of fentanyl-laced fentanyl and fake oxycontin pills. The number of fentanyl seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border never showed a steady decline on the flux of fentanyl landing in the U.S.
Meanwhile a new corrido started making the rounds in Sinaloa: “La people and a activa aquí en Culiacán”, sung by popular artist Peso Pluma. A song dedicated to Néstor Isidro Pérez, known as ‘El Nini’, allegedly the head of sicarios for ‘Los Chapitos’ and the coordinator behind the two fights to free Ovidio.
But only a few months after, on Nov. 24, he was also arrested in a surprisingly quiet operation. ‘El Nini’ was found in trousers at one of his houses in Culiacán with not a single henchman or firearm around. The arrest raised suspicion amongst Mexicans wondering if he had turned himself over, or ‘Los Chapitos’ had turned on him, trying to save their own skin.
Last time I visited Ovidio’s birthplace, the town of Jesús María, residents were probably more angry at the Mexican army than at Ovidio’s sicarios.
“They were good to us, always trying to help, bringing us medicine, food, and giving us jobs. But the government, what are they doing for us? Nothing, just problems” a man who lives right across Ovidio’s house told me back then.
The Sinaloa Cartel had won their support, a must for any thriving criminal organization.
Some Things Will Never Change
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