International

29 killed in arrest of Mexico drug kingpin’s son

Photo: Marcos Vizcarra / AFP

January 6th | By AFP |

Ten soldiers and 19 suspected criminals were killed in an operation to arrest a son of jailed drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico’s government said Friday, with a dramatic shootout sowing terror at an airport.

Thousands of soldiers retook control of the Sinaloa cartel stronghold of Culiacan, which resembled a war zone after furious gunmen went on the rampage to try to free their boss.

Ovidio Guzman was captured in the northwestern city on Thursday and flown to Mexico City before being transferred to the high-security Altiplano prison in central Mexico from which “El Chapo” escaped in 2015.

The 32-year-old, nicknamed “El Raton” (The Mouse), had allegedly helped to run his father’s operations since the former Sinaloa cartel boss was extradited to the United States in 2017.

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A colonel who commanded an infantry battalion was among those killed after his team came under attack following the arrest, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval told reporters.

Another 35 soldiers sustained gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital, while 21 gunmen were arrested.

Sandoval said a civilian airliner that was about to take off from Culiacan International Airport, as well as two Mexican Air Force aircraft, were hit as cartel henchmen tried to free Ovidio Guzman.

The military planes “had to make an emergency landing” after receiving “a significant number of impacts,” said Sandoval.

No injuries resulted from the plane attacks and Culiacan airport resumed operations on Friday.

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Multimillion-dollar bounty

The United States had issued a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Ovidio Guzman’s capture. It accuses him of being a key player in the Sinaloa cartel founded by his father.

The arrest came as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador prepared to welcome his US counterpart Joe Biden for a North America leaders’ summit next week where security is expected to be high on the agenda.

Mexico denied that the United States had been involved in the operation to catch Ovidio Guzman.

“We act autonomously, independently. Yes there is cooperation and there will continue to be, but we make the decisions as a sovereign government,” Lopez Obrador told reporters.

He said calm had returned to Culiacan, where security forces removed dozens of stolen and burnt out vehicles scattered throughout the city of 800,000 people.

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Videos on social media Thursday showed passengers and Aeromexico airline employees ducking behind counters as gunfire rang out at Culiacan airport.

Cartel gunmen set cars and trucks ablaze at several intersections in the city, and authorities reported 19 roadblocks.

Cocaine, meth and fentanyl

El Chapo is serving a life sentence in the United States for trafficking hundreds of tons of drugs into the country over the course of 25 years.

However, his cartel remains one of the most powerful in Mexico, accused by Washington of exploiting an opioid epidemic by flooding communities in the United States with fentanyl, a synthetic drug about 50 times more potent than heroin.

Ovidio Guzman and one of his brothers are accused of overseeing nearly a dozen methamphetamine labs in Sinaloa as well as conspiring to distribute cocaine and marijuana, according to the US State Department.

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Ovidio Guzman also allegedly ordered the murders of informants, a drug trafficker and a Mexican singer who refused to perform at his wedding, it said.

He was captured briefly once before in 2019, but security forces freed him after his cartel waged an all-out war in response.

His release prompted sharp criticism of Lopez Obrador, who said the decision was made to protect civilians’ lives.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard has played down the prospects of a fast-track extradition, saying Ovidio Guzman was expected to face legal proceedings in Mexico.

Mexico has registered more than 340,000 murders since the government controversially deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006, most of them blamed on criminal gangs.

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International

German president warns Iran war could spread and disrupt Strait of Hormuz

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned Monday that the war involving Iran could expand and further disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. He urged a swift end to hostilities between Iran, United States and Israel.

Speaking in Panama City during a joint appearance with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Steinmeier said available information suggests Iran has significant capacity to disrupt maritime traffic through the key oil route.

“Iran has considerable potential to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter. “We should therefore reach an end to the hostilities as soon as possible and call on all parties involved to make that happen.”

The remarks came during Steinmeier’s visit to Panama, the first by a German president to the Central American nation.

The German leader described the possibility of the conflict spreading as “very dangerous,” saying recent developments indicate that such a scenario cannot be ruled out.

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Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump urged allied nations to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran moved to block the waterway in response to U.S. strikes. However, several allies—particularly in Europe—have shown little support for the proposal.

“Some are very enthusiastic, others are not, and some are countries we have helped for many years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have protected them from terrible external threats, and they’re not that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm is important to me.”

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said the Strait of Hormuz falls “outside NATO’s scope” and stressed that “the war involving Iran is not Europe’s war.”

International

Mexico security chief meets DEA director in Washington to boost anti-drug cooperation

Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, met in Washington with the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Terrance Cole, to discuss cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking and illegal arms flows.

The Mexican official said Monday on social media that he attended the meeting in representation of the Mexican government’s Security Cabinet.

“In Washington, D.C., I represented the Security Cabinet to hold talks with DEA Director Terrance Cole on the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation to combat drug trafficking, curb the flow of weapons into our country, and reduce violence in Mexico through significant arrests,” García Harfuch wrote.

He added that, following instructions from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, the government will continue strengthening international cooperation on security matters.

For his part, Cole said the meeting focused on cross-border collaboration to tackle drug trafficking and to build safer communities on both sides of the border.

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The meeting comes as Mexico and the United States begin a new round of dialogue on economic and security issues.

Earlier Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum said she will look for the “best moment” to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that maintaining a good relationship with Washington is a priority for her administration.

International

Venezuela’s foreign minister accuses UN rights chief of “immoral bias”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil criticized the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, accusing him of having an “immoral bias” and acting as an “echo chamber for falsehoods” regarding the situation in Venezuela.

Gil’s remarks came after Türk stated that his office had not received an official list from Venezuelan authorities detailing the release of political prisoners, nor authorization to carry out visits related to the issue.

“The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights insists on a narrative biased against our country, repeating unfounded accusations while deliberately omitting the impact of unilateral coercive measures on the rights of the Venezuelan people,” Gil said in a message posted on his Telegram channel.

Without directly addressing the question of prisoner releases, the Venezuelan foreign minister also accused Türk of aligning with what he described as the “agenda of extremism in Venezuela.”

Gil added that, despite serious human rights violations occurring in other parts of the world, the UN official has chosen to maintain what he described as an “immoral bias” against Venezuela.

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The criticism is part of a broader dispute between the Venezuelan government and the UN human rights office over reports and investigations concerning the human rights situation in the country.