More details have emerged in the deadly battle between Mexican military members and Sinaloa Cartel gunmen over the capture of Ovidio Guzmán, the son of the cartel’s former boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Hundreds of Sinaloa cartel gunmen raced to the younger Guzmán’s vacation ranch in Sinaloa early on January 5 as Mexican soldiers had begun to besiege the compound, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But the small cartel army could not withstand Mexico’s military, which used Blackhawk helicopter gunships to thwart the armada of pickup trucks rigged with makeshift armor and high-caliber guns.
At the end of the battle, which lasted a day and turned the northern city of Culiacan into a war zone, 10 soldiers, one being an army colonel, and 19 cartel gunmen were killed, Mexican Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Sandoval said 35 soldiers were wounded, adding that the Mexican army destroyed or seized 40 cartel vehicles, including 26 homemade armored trucks.
Still, there are differing accounts of how exactly the events unfolded.
According to Gen. Sandoval, it took six months of surveilling and gathering intelligence to capture Guzmán. Finally, soldiers happened to encounter the armed convoy in which Guzmán was riding, he said.
Gen. Sandoval said the convoy fired upon his soldiers first, prompting them to return fire. The gunmen then retreated to a house, pursued by the soldiers.
However, town residents and cartel gunmen contend there was no initial encounter with an armada, claiming instead that soldiers shot their way into Guzmán’s home, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Images from Guzmán’s spacious ranch house show hundreds of spent shell casings littering the outside and inside of the compound.
Dried blood is splattered on the floor of a laundry room. In others, large wooden doors are covered in bullet holes, one hanging off its hinge, and expensive furniture is smashed.
Guzmán was reportedly having a family gathering at the compound when authorities launched the operation to capture him.
The notorious drug kingpin’s son reportedly had an escape tunnel from the compound’s parking area. However, he apparently did not have time to use it, with authorities claiming they captured him only 10 minutes after the operation began.
However, according to another account, Guzmán did escape but returned for his family.
“He had got away with the support of those protecting him, but his wife and children were trapped when the aerial assault began,” said Mexico-based investigative journalist Anabel Hernandez in Infobae.
Hernandez claimed El Chapo’s son returned to the compound for his daughter, which was when he was caught.
Guzmán is being held at the country’s highest security prison, located in Colorado — the same one from which his father escaped via a mile-long tunnel in 2015.
The elder Guzmán was recaptured, extradited to the U.S. in 2017, and sentenced to life in a maximum-security prison. However, he has asked to be extradited back to Mexico, a request Mexico is considering, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Since his father’s extradition, Ovidio Guzmán had allegedly assumed a more prominent role among his brothers in carrying on their father’s business.
The United States indicted the 32-year-old Guzmán on charges of smuggling methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana in 2018. At the time, a $5 million reward was offered for information leading to his capture.
Since then, the U.S. government has stated that the Sinaloa Cartel has become a leading pioneer in the trafficking of fentanyl into the country.
Though his cartel suffers a significant blow, Ovidio Guzmán’s capture is not expected to stop the business.
“The Sinaloa cartel will absorb the hit and keep going,” said Adrián López, the editor of Noroeste, the leading newspaper in Culiacán.