Mexico: Drug Cartel Leader Arrested – The chaos has begun

Three members of Mexico’s security forces have been killed in the Sinaloa region of the country’s northwest after the arrest of the son of notorious drug lord “El Chapo”.

The enraged gang members blocked roads, set fire to vehicles and attacked a local airport.

– This is an attempt to do the same as in 2019, when Ovidio Guzman-Lopez was arrested: the Sinaloa cartel will prove that they are in control – and not the Mexican police and military. They made it last time. I don’t think they can now, he says Benedict Taurusexpert on Latin America and professor at the Center for Development and the Environment of the University of Oslo.

Hugs, not bullets

The now arrested Ovidio Guzman-Lopez, also known as “Musa”, is not just any person in Mexico. It was his father, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, who created the Sinaloa cartel in the 1980s, which became one of the largest in the world.

Before being arrested and extradited to the United States, “El Chapo” was one of the richest men in the world, according to the BBC. He was known for being behind insane episodes of violence and illegal conditions, with corpses hung from bridges, heads thrown into restaurants and the like.

Son Ovidio Guzman-Lopez took over the cartel from his father, and when he was arrested in 2019, his people fought street battles with the army in broad daylight.

They set fire to vehicles and tried to enter the prison, before “Musa” was released due to the cartel’s then ferocious power.

– It has to end quickly. I’m going to kill someone at three tonight

– The reason I don’t think it will happen now is that in 2019 it was at the beginning of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s term. He came to power with a “hugs and no bullets” security policy. But after things went completely wrong, including when they arrested Guzman-Lopez in 2019, the strategy changed, Bull says.

– We are now witnessing an increasingly military strategy, similar to that conducted by his predecessors. It hasn’t been effective, but it’s popular, she continues.

New cartel in power

Professor Bull believes the Mexican president and his people are better prepared now than in 2019.

– This clearly has a connection to Joe Biden who is coming to visit us in a few days. President AMLO (nickname of the president, ed) has been accused of wanting to negotiate with the cartels. Now show Biden taking responsibility, Bull says.

He believes “El Chapo’s” son will eventually be extradited to the United States.

– It may take some time, but if the will is there, it can also go quickly, he says.

So was the “prison” of Pablo Escobar

According to US spokesmen, they closely followed Guzman-Lopez’s movements for six months before his arrest. The Americans promised a five million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of Guzman-Lopez or any of the brothers. The United States believes, among other things, that he and his brother Joaquin are responsible for eleven meth labs, which produce 1,300 to 2,200 kilograms of meth per month.

They also believe that the son of “El Chapo” ordered the murders of informants, a drug dealer and a famous Mexican singer who did not want to sing at his wedding.

It has tentacles all over the world

– There is nothing to indicate this is the end of the Sinaloa Cartel, even though the son has now been arrested. The Sinaloa Cartel is also in competition The Jalisco Cartel, which can come out stronger. At the same time, it never happens that one or two cartels control the whole country. There is both cooperation and competition here among many other smaller players, says Bull.

Parents teach children to kill

Criminal underworld

The strong and violent drug cartels in Mexico have not always been present.

– There has always been a criminal underworld, which has developed partly in concert with the Mexican state since the 1930s. Several organizations have their roots in the Prohibition era in the United States, when they smuggled alcohol. Then came the cultivation of marijuana and opium. The latter increased during the Vietnam War, when Americans wanted more morphine and also received new imports of heroin, Bull says.

But for a long time these groups were tolerated because “the level of violence was tolerable and the money was going into the local economy,” according to Bull.

– During the Cold War, the US was also more concerned with catching communists than drug lords. Colombia started smuggling cocaine, which is much more profitable, in the 1970s. As the Cold War was drawing to a close, the United States invested enormous resources to crack down on the cocaine trade, Bull says, and continues:

– Pablo Escobar was captured and the Mexican cartels started to take over. He has given them much greater power.

Pablo Escobar’s house left in ruins

Really sure

In the 1990s, however, the level of violence was relatively low. Violence began to escalate in the 2000s, and when Mexico deployed its army against the cartels in 2006, it erupted.

– Since then, the violence has escalated and moved across the country. But the strength of the cartels has not diminished. It’s a long and sad story, says Bull.

At the same time, he emphasizes that Mexico is more than violence, drug cartels, murder and terror.

– Mexico is a very large country, and there are many places you shouldn’t go. But Mexico City is indeed a very safe city. It’s also not a dangerous country to go to in general, she says.

– What happens then, in the future?

– There will be unrest in the areas, with revenge actions. But I don’t think it is the beginning of a violent wave of violence across the country. The Mexican police and security police were prepared for this, so I don’t think it will be a “game changer,” he says.