Ovidio Guzman arrest: Mexico capture son of drug lord ‘El Chapo’ as city of Culiacan descends into heavy fighting
Gunfights have broken out in the capital of Mexico’s Sinaloa state after security forces captured one of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons, who is wanted by the US on drug trafficking charges.
Defence secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said Army and National Guard personnel captured 32-year-old Ovidio Guzman in a pre-dawn operation in Culiacan.
Three years ago, an attempt to arrest Ovidio ended in humiliation for the government when President Andrew Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered the military to let him go after gunmen shot up the city with high-powered weapons.
Ovidio Guzman pictured during his failed arrest in 2019. Pic: AP
This time local and state officials in Sinaloa warned residents to stay inside, suspended local government activities and closed schools, while the Mexican military closed Culiacan’s airport amid gunfire.
Mexican airline Aeromexico said one of its planes had been hit by gunfire ahead of a scheduled flight to Mexico City, though no one was hurt.
Passenger videos posted online showed people cowering on the floor of the plane as shooting could be heard in the background.
Other clips appeared to show heavy fighting across the city as the sky was lit up by helicopter gunfire.
Ovidio’s capture comes ahead of Mr Lopez Obrador hosting a North American leaders’ summit in Mexico City next week, in which US President Joe Biden is expected to want to discuss drug trafficking.
“This is a significant blow to the Sinaloa cartel and major victory for the rule of law,” said Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of international operations.
“It will not, however, impede the flow of drugs into the US. Hopefully, Mexico will extradite him to the US.”
Passenger videos posted online showed people cowering on the floor of the plane. Pic: AP
Six months of surveillance in cartel territory
Ovidio’s capture was the result of six months of reconnaissance and surveillance in cartel territory, Mr Sandoval said.
National Guard troops spotted SUVs, some with homemade armour, and immediately coordinated with the army as they established a perimeter around the suspicious vehicles and forced the occupants out in order to search them.
The security forces then came under fire but were able to gain control of the situation and identify Ovidio among those present and in possession of firearms, Mr Sandoval said.
Cartel members set up 19 roadblocks covering all point of access to the city of Culiacan, including Culiacan’s airport and outside the local army base.
Vehicles and buses were set on fire by members of a drugs gang
A leader of ‘the juniors’ faction
Mr Sandoval said Ovidio was a leader of a Sinaloa faction he called “los menores” or “the juniors”, who are also known as “los Chapitos” or “the little Chapos”.
The other “little Chapos” are two of his brothers, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman and Jesus Alfredo Guzman, who are believed to have been running cartel operations with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
Mr Vigil said the Chapitos have been taking greater control of the cartel because Zambada was in poor health and isolated in the mountains.
“The Chapitos know that if El Mayo dies, (the cartel) is going to break apart if they don’t have control,” he said.
“It’s going to be very important that the US requests Ovidio’s extradition quickly and that Mexico does it.”
A soldier keeps watch near the wreckage of a burnt vehicle set on fire by members of a drugs gang as a barricade
US offered $5m reward
A 2018 federal indictment in Washington, DC, accused Ovidio of conspiring to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis in the US.
The US has offered a $5m (£4m) reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ovidio, who has become a key figure in the cartel since his father’s arrest.
It is unclear whether Ovidio will be extradited to the US like his father, who is serving a life sentence at Colorado’s Supermax prison.
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
Read more:
Azerbaijan president hails oil and gas as ‘gift from God’
UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’
The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
Read more:
No 10 indicates Netanyahu would be arrested
‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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