On October 17, 2019, the administration of then-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador implemented an operation to arrest Ovidio Guzmán, who was wanted by the United States government.
This operation was carried out because on April 2 of that year, a United States federal court issued an arrest warrant for drug distribution crimes and on September 13, Mexico was asked to arrest Ovidio Guzmán with extradition orders.
At 1:00 p.m. on September 19, the operation was implemented to arrest the young man also known as “El Ratón”, however, in Culiacán, Sinaloa, a wave of violence was unleashed, represented by the burning of cars, attacks on the armed forces and shootings.
Months later, López Obrador explained his decision, which he said was based on avoiding deaths.
“When it was decided, in order not to put the population at risk, so that civilians were not affected, because more than 200 innocent people in Culiacán, Sinaloa were going to lose their lives if we did not suspend the operation, and the decision was made, I ordered that this operation be stopped and that this alleged criminal be released,” he explained.
(Photo: Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro.)
From that moment on, “Los Chapitos” would be a target for the federal government. Three years later, an operation to arrest Ovidio Guzmán was implemented again and was successful, although 10 security personnel and 19 alleged criminals died.
After spending months detained in the Altiplano prison, Guzmán was extradited to the United States on September 15, 2023.
(Photo: Cuartoscuro.)
